


In the middle of the night - or - Galra!Keith is kind of sick

by Edelwary



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Drunk Lance, Fluff, Galra reveal, Galra!Keith, Gay Shiro (Voltron), Lance takes care of Keith, Langst, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Sharing Confidences, Sickfic, Slow Burn, Voltron, alcohol mention, altean pools, altean tech, cute Klance, drunk keith, hand holding, keith is sick, keith's backstory, klance, klangst, lance comes up with the fact hes bi too, pining klance, pining lance, shiro is mlm and helps lance with that, sick!keith, that one is new im sorryy, thats worth mentionning i think, vld, well they're not that drunk but maybe its worth mentionning, yeah that too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2018-11-15 02:44:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11221632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edelwary/pseuds/Edelwary
Summary: For once in their life, the paladins have some free time. Too bad it's the day Keith does not feel well, and goes to his nearest doormate to find help. He really wish he could have caught up some sleep !But Lance often took care of his siblings so it's gonna be okay.





	1. I think something's wrong - or - Let's get down to our knees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Castle is almost reaching his destination perfectly, but that does not mean everyone on board actually is fine, right Keith ? Keith ?  
> -  
> Or  
> -  
> Keith is sick and the very next room is Lance's. Guess there's no choice but ask for help ?

"Paladins! Whe entered the Hakentok orbit, we'll arrive in a few doboshes. Until there, rest and train. We'll explore the remains of the lost city as soon as we land."

Allura finished her speech and nodded at the team as a dismissing gesture. The Castle of Lions, their giant spaceship, floated through space asteroids rings in direction of what was, 8000 years ago, one of the first commanding centrals of the Galra's empire.

Only notified in ancient archives, the causes of its abandon remained unknown to the paladins. Similarly, Alteans weren't informed of the existence of such a base, neither was the Blade of Marmora.

When Pidge finally opened the corrupted files they had managed to download from a destroyed ship earlier, she deduced the coordinates of the base’s planet. The first move of the crew was to immediately wormhole there, in order to catch up against Zarkon's empire. Allura believed capital secret documentation could be found there. Hopefully a way to counter the power of the druids, or something along these lines. Maybe even information relative to the lions.

As they got near the base _,_ wrecked ships’ parts passed by. Lance sat under next to Hunk, watching the huge decks drift by, attracted in the void of space by moons and suns of unknown names.

 

“Look. It’s here.” Lance elbowed Hunk as he pointed his chin towards the glass walls. Behind them, a grey mass appeared, slowly growing bigger.

“Seems boring. And dead.” Hunk commented. Leaning further against his shoulders, Lance waved his hand.

“Maybe I’ll uncover some ancient civilisation. We’ll play Indiana Jones for real !” Lance talked enthusiastically. This mission was going to be a fun, relaxing one. Not risky at all. The worst that could happen was to stumble upon a deserted camp.

He was _so_ going to have a great night. A full, entire night of sleep, with no blaring alarms, no screams, no ships to blow. Nothing. He smiled at the thought, reporting his attention back to the view.

 

The planet was orbiting in a large multi-solar system. Due to a high-powered gravity, three moons gravitated around, and a fourth one cycled periodically in loops, passing around suns and going back to the planet, before turning back again.

 

"It forms an eight. It's a first time discovery. I've never seen such strange shape." Shiro noted, as he continuously played the trajectory of Nok, the purple fourth moon, on the three-dimensional hologram.

The blue asteroid belt projected in the air disappeared as Keith passed through it, his eyes merely following the shapes floating around them. Shiro deactivated most of the simulation, leaving only the ship, the planet and the moons to drift in the castle's cockpit.

 

"Is it really safe to engage the castle near it?” debated Keith when reaching his sides. “Won't it affect our commands ?"

 

Keith scraped the back of his neck. The night prior had been long and tiring, and he already felt all of his muscles sore. As much as he enjoyed taking down Zarkon’s fleet, he longed for a ultra-hot, steamy shower. Shiro gazed back at him, bags under his eyes. Both of them, along with everyone else in the castle, were drained of energy.

 

"Keith, Allura and I would never risk the castle for a dead planet. It's fine, nothing worse than a crash on freezing asteroids could happen anyways." Shiro assured, looking professional as usual. Even if he had, to be honest, absolutely no idea of what could happen.

"Nothing worse than…” Parroting the words, Keith pinched the bridge of his nose. Shiro had a dark sense of humor that never really made him laugh anyways. “Shiro, you need to rest too. We’ve all had a long day.”

A shrug of shoulders and a weak smile later, Shiro turned back to the hologram, focusing on the path of the purple moon, which obviously crossed theirs. He needed to find a way out of it.

 

Sensing exhaustion was getting him out of his head, Keith left the castle’s command’s for his room. He was not really useful in planned strategy. This was Shiro’s, Allura’s and Lance’s job. Keith was more… Practical.

Looking at the bruises he made in the battle, most of them out of precipitation and dangerous decision, he decided to tone down the chaos that usually followed him and focus on the peaceful mission that would be coming soon.

Down the hallway, the monitors shined a bright blue, glinting on the walls, reflecting in his eyes. A unpleasant sensation flickered in his brain.

He squinted and paced faster. Not bothering turning on the lights of his room, he stripped and dived under the burning water of the Altean showers.

 

Several ticks later... or maybe more, his shoulders blades started to itch again. First his neck, now this... Keith tried to rub off the sensation, but with every touch he only made it worse. Now his whole body was stung.

 

The overall feel ; the heat, the tiredness, the ache ; brought Keith back to months ago. He used to ride his hoverbike until the sunset in the open wide desert, absent minded, aimlessly wandering in what he knew now was the Blue lion’s cove.

Keith being Keith, he flew way too fast back then, and still does in Red now. The needle bites of the cacti he crashed into during some heated night ghosted over his skin, the memory impressing itself on the current sensation.

 

Brought back to reality by the tingling of his legs, Keith shook his head. Bad idea, it only made the world swirl. His toes now seemed really far away. The water stream brushed his hair. The steam started to feel suffocating.

 

“Okay Keith, time to get out, _now_.”

 

Conscious of his own, fast-paced breathing, Keith slightly started panicking. Even in pitch dark, he still felt overly called by his senses. He could hear every single one of the water drops crashing on his legs; he heard the ruffles in his hears ; he felt the warmth under his fingertips. The bittersweet sensation of metal and sleep-deprivation consumed the tastes on his tongue. He felt the slightly odd balance of the ship. He could even feel his own height.

 

Sensory overload. Major sensory overload.

 

The phrase rolled around a while in his brain, before a new flow of thoughts engulfed his mind.

There was this bruise on his shoulder. And the need to end the world’s motion. When did he get so ill ? A commotion ? In the battle ? But Lance had him covered and no one noticed anything after they went back.

 

Every single strand of hair made noise. Now Keith was sure he ate something rotten. But Pidge ate with him. And was fine. The taste of alien fruits flooded his mouth, followed by the blood’s one. He’d bite his tongue from overthinking.

 

His heartbeat was strangely low. Maybe the water was too hot. Now it wasn't just exhaustion; it was a massive headache that filled his brain and disabled his entire body from functioning correctly.There was just too much to focus on, too much to care about.

And he was just so tired.

 

Emerging, crawling out of the shower, Keith managed to grab his pants and put them on before smashing down on the cold hard floor. note for later : keith has no boxers here apparently His back hit first, expelling the air out of his lungs. Choking on what he had left of consciousness, the teen laid on the cool tile for a while. Reflecting on his life.

 

"Keith Kogane, the red Paladin, right arm of Voltron, is spread half-naked in his bathroom. In the dark. Because he can't take a migraine.” And talking to himself, apparently.

 

He tried to chuckle but almost strangled himself, which resulted in even more coughing  and a tensing motion that sent radiating beats to his brain like a drummer beating a drum.

He glanced at the ceiling, a pitch black surface wich edges glinted in blue. The emergency stand-by light hardy lit up the place. It barely only reflected on his nails and shined on the drops over his arms.

 

Keith felt like he was about to puke up something. Is this how Hunk feels all the time? Without even knowing, he had gotten even more respect from the Keith, because holy shit, it was not easy to breath with half your insides on the brink of getting out.

Before the paladin could process the whole thing, his vision was covered in white dots dancing. He just tried to get back on his feet and had failed miserably, falling back against the cold floor. He wished he would see stars from anything else but a seasickness. Spacesickness, actually.

 

Keith rolled on himself, wrists and palms sweaty on the floor. He kneeled and grabbed the doorknob and, walking like a drunk sailor on a stormy sea, reached his bed. Only his upper body rested against the mattress, his back pressed against the sheets.

He wiped sweat from his forehead and erratically made his way to the door, before finally reaching the corridor.

 

The door closed shut in a soft shuffling behind him. Step one, over.

 

Shaking, he rested against it for a solid minute before coming back to reality. It was the absolute middle of the night, but the castle was still lit as a Christmas tree. A painful Christmas tree. White, stunning light piercing his lenses.

 

"Fuck!"

 

Keith clamped his eyes shut, tears strolling down his cheeks, and placed both hands on the wall to steady himself. The skin was hurting. Not only the bruises from the battle, not just the scars and the blisters of training and fighting.

His skin felt like it was tearing down, unbelievably painful.  

The paladin’s nails dug into the wall, tracing a white line has he pressed himself against the still surface. Regardless of the wall that he knew wasn’t moving, he still felt the world shaking. He struggled down the corridor until his hands bumped on a more metallic surface.

His knees weak, Keith pressed his forehead against the door. Whose door was it already ?  

 

The corridors’ plans, the whole castle agency mashed up in Keith’s brain. Did he went to the right ? Or to the left. Maybe left.

“Open up.” Keith puffed. Under his fingers, the door moved.

Finally, he had reached help.

 

As soon has he crumbled on the threshold, he remember whose door he was standing in.

 

"Lance?" Keith's voice echoed like a croak more than anything, his throat was dry and rough like sandpaper.

He bit his lip. Lance would help, right? But was he even _sure_ it was Lance’s room ?  Nothing  made sense a minute ago, after all. His head was spinning so fast he could hear it. Maybe he was wrong after all. What if he landed in another paladin’s room calling out to Lance ?

How awkward.

He pushed on the wall to get in – more like launched himself inside the bedroom.

 

An annoyed grunt emerged from under the covers near his right side. So it definetly was Lance’s. Keith felt on the ground like a ragdoll, . With eyes shut and lips bruised from biting them, he did not see Lance emerge from his bed, yawn for twenty seconds, stretch the sleep from himself, before continuing.

He did not see Lance frown then race to his trembling body. He did not see the concerned look on his face, did not hear the soft 'Keith? My buddy?' muttered under Lance's breath.

Keith had passed out.

 

Being unconscious spared Keith Lance’s complaining about his situation.

"Dude, it’s just a headache, okay? Go back to sleep. It's like, i don’t know, 3 o’clock in the damn morning!" Lance pouted. "You're eating up my beauty sleep right now, and god knows i don’t need it." He wanted to sound confident and cocky, but deep down, Lance started to grow concerned for the body laying at his knees.

 

As he got no response, Lance brushed Keith's cheek. The boy was burning up, not just the usual warmer-than-humanly acceptable. As he was barechested, Lance could witness small dots and marks widening on his back. Something between blue and purple. Not pretty, nor impossible after a night of endless fighting waves of aliens. But nothing Keith should pass out from either...

 

"What's going on Mullet?"


	2. How to take care of your fevery Keith - or - I'm doing my best, please don't yell at me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Keith collapsed at Lance's feet in the middle of the night. Something that surely activates some kind of 'caring' mode in the blue paladin's heart.

Lance stood up, confused. Keith was laying down on the floor at his feet, shaking a bit. Less than when he collapsed down minutes ago, but still. And he was running a severe high-fever. Lance could tell by only touching his forehead.

As a top notch older brother, Lance had taken care of his siblings many times, including when they were sick. It made him immune to a load of things, like being wake up in the middle of the night or sneezes right at his face. God, he would give everything just for a second of his siblings sneezing next to him.

 

Lance shook his head. Not the moment, nor the person.

Bruises never took Keith down, so he supposed that something much more insidious was up. Switching to 'caring mode', Lance kneeled down again. His movements, although steady and precise, were not at all commanded by his brain, which was currently stuck in an endless screaming mode.

_Why_ would Keith end up in his room. Why not in Shiro's? Why was it always him?

 

"Keith, I need you to wake up and come with me, 'kay ?" Lance said. He tried to wake Keith with sound first. His mother used this tactic on Sundays when he was supposed to be ready for church. As he watched Keith’s absence of reaction, he remember that... it never really worked.

 

Lance’s hand stroked Keith's hair. It was greasy, and the roots were sweaty. Gross but understandable. Lance was not going to mock Keith for being sick, but his split ends, however... He really needed some haircut session. But first...

As nothing seemed to move the boy, Lance grabbed his shoulders and shook them pretty hard. Keith's irises peered in between his lashes, unfocused. Lance let out a sigh of relief, as he briefly contemplated the idea of waking Keith up by slapping him, which could involve severe damages.

 

"Keith? Can you hear me?”

A faint groan and a slow blink. He'd take that as an answer.

"I'll need you to tuck to my shoulders, okay? This won't be long but I can't do it without your help."

"'Kay.”

“You can’t stay on the ground. I’ll move you to the bed, right ?”

 

Slight nodding. Here we go.

Reaching under Keith's legs and armpits, Lance frowned. Frail hands joined behind his neck. Frail but sharp. Lance snickered under stinging nails that dug into the nape of his neck, more than harmless. Counting to three, he lifted Keith off the ground. The boy’s head was rested on his chest, sticky hair spreading over his tee-shirt.

 

"Woah, guy's heavy as heck!" Lance thought to himself.

Trembling a little, Lance got up on his feet, carrying Keith bridal style. Which was not as easy as it sounded, the boy was way heavier than he looked. Grimacing under the effort, Lance barely made a few steps before stopping in front of his bed, where he dropped Keith. Lance let out a sigh.

 

"Humf... There you are. Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong, Keith? Keith..."

 

Again, Keith was collapsed, only this time atop Lance's bed. His eyes were kind of glassy and he was… Hot. Like real fever hot. Not the other type of hot, after all Keith was Keith. And Keith, even with his mesmerizing purple eyes and his porcelain skin, was a real mess. Nothing near as hot as, say… Allura ? Okay maybe, maybe, sometimes, when he was only in his black flightsuit…

Lance rested his palm on his friend's forehead, testing the temperature. He scrunch up his nose. Bad, this was really bad.

 

"I'm getting you some cool, okay? I'm going but not for long." The words hung in the air as Lance rushed to the bathroom.

Keith stayed silent, panting in his restless sleep.

 

The freezing tap water woke Lance up completely, and he ran his hands under the running stream reluctantly. As he collected the water, he let his mind wander. Why him? Why now? When did Keith get so sick? He seemed pretty fine earlier. Not that he had checked or anything, but...

The marks Keith had left on the base of his neck began to sting. Running a wet hand through his hair, Lance brushed the light cuts on his cervicals.

"You sure have sharp claws, Mullet boy"...

Gathering the soaking towels, Lance returned to the mess sprawled over his bed that was Keith now.

  
  


"Hey, buddy,” whispered Lance. “I got you this..."

"Thanks." Keith muttered. The sigh was so faint, so small, Lance would have missed it if the room wasn't absolutely silent. He handed Keith the first towel, and placed the other one over his nose and mouth. Immediately after, Keith moved it upward, right above his eyebrows, visibly hurt from the touch.

  
  


"What's wrong again?"

"Mouth hurt."

"Let me check?" Lance offered. He always knew Keith had a strange, very unique conception of personal space.

 

Keith's jaw dropped loose. Lance, took it as a 'yes' and ran a finger over his lip. Approximately at this moment, he started wondering why were they in pitch dark night, only aided by the stand-by lights of the castle. Not that it mattered that they were in absolute darkness, or that he was pressing fingers over Keith's cheeks and mouth or anything, but....

 

"Teeth..." Keith announced. At this point, Lance had his fingers pressing his chin and his thumb wandering in the air.

Led by Keith, Lance's thumb dwelled on the edges of his teeth. He pressed each one. When he reached oddly long canine, Keith whined.

"It's these ones. They feel overgrown. Maybe you hit your jaw during the attack and they moved. That explains your headache." Lance noted. He had the cold tone he took whenever he had to explain anything he intuitively felt. This way it left no place for questions he could not answer.

"It's not." Keith argued, mouth wide open. He was having some trouble enunciating his words with Lance inspecting his mouth. Lance carefully moved up to another of the aching teeth.

"Keith, they're like, half my nail longer than usual."

"I did not hit anything."

"Commotions tends to erase memory." Lance mocked.

"That’ no’ i’."

"Whatever you say, wimpy kid." Lance removed his thumb from Keith’s mouth, swiping it on his tighs.

He shrugged and almost snapped his neck when Keith grabbed his collar and pulled him down. His face was suddenly really close to Keith’s and, thank Altea, he turned his back to the lights because if he had not, Keith would definitely notice the pretty pink of his cheeks that wasn’t due to a fever.

 

"It's. Not. And I'm no wimpy kid." Keith’s warm breath breezed over Lance's nose. This was way to close for him. His eyes, for some reason, were glinting. Lance shivered, unsure of why Keith would be so upset over such a simple, usual bickering similar to what they often did.

 

The pressuring gaze of Keith, and his oddly sharpened teeth told Lance to back off the chit chat for a moment. Dropping Lance’s collar, Keith shuddered.

 

"I think something wrong with me,” he muttered.

 

It was the only thing he managed to whisper before shutting off again. Keith released Lance’s shirt completely, allowing him to sit back up on the brink of the bed. Flustered.

Keith's hair was glued to his skin from sweat, and he was quietly panting as if he was suffering from a severe heatstroke. “Now’s not the time to get disturbed about anything Lance…” he thought to himself.

 

So here he was, covering his teammate in blue towels at three in the morning, in his pajamas, all alone, in the dark. For a while, he sat there and waited for Keith to wake up. Lance cupped the boy’s sweaty palms in his.

 

"Just to test the temperature, right..."

 

Everyone needed a little comfort here.


	3. Making-up things is building bonds - or - Are you touching me where I think you're touching me ?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are heating up - quite litterally between Lance and his sick little Keith. Honestly it's the following of a sick fluffy/angsty/pining/cheesy fic, whatcha want more haha ! :3

"Are we, like, holding hands right now ?" Keith voice, even crooked, was tainted of both questioning and... amusement ? 

"Now you’re awake of course!" 

 

It has been an hour or so that Keith had crawled out of nowhere into his room, and Lance was painfully awake, checking every now and then if the towels were still ice cold, if he was well covered by the blankets, if his hair did not tangle up too much... 

The only real feeling into the darkness of the night was the warmth. Not like a sweet warmth, like Hunk's shoulders after a fun day spent surfing under the sun. Not the warmth of Shiro's smile when they managed to ace a piloting adventure. Keith radiated a dangerous, fevery warmth. As if some dragon rested under his heart, diffusing a threatening heat all over the boy's body. He palms were burning. His chest, even covered in wet towels, still tainted red. Sweat dropped in dots on the pillow. 

It was a sick warmth. 

That being said, Lance was worried. His sisters caught pretty bad things, but he always knew whats and whys. Here, he must admit Keith was right. No bruises, no scratches. The boy was externally fine. He didn't coughed that much, even though is voice had got really low at times. And there was the marks. 

Lance had inspected Keith's back - for medical purpose, obviously - three times since he crashed in. At first, what he took for bruises seemed in fact to be birthmarks. But birthmarks are not supposed to expand, right ? That, this symptom, was what had Lance the most concerned. He thought about getting Keith to the healing pods, but somehow, he figured the red boy would not agree. 

So Lance and his anxiety just waited in the dark, until Keith emerged from a troubled nap. And of course, he started by the most awful statement.

 

"I was just checking your temperature. We would never hold hands." Lance attempted. And failed. They were totally holding hands. 

"We already did. One time."

"Out of my head, can't relate"

"Blocked."

"Wow, I'm shook. Blocked by the guy whom i cradled in my very own arms right an hour ago. Rude." Lance dramatically raised a free hand to his chest, sniffing a little for the effect.

Keith chuckled. His laughter soon turned into a light cough. Lance frowned at his chest lifting irregularly. Something really was off and it kept him awake. 

 

"What's wrong ?" Keith inquired.

"I was just... You really have no idea ? Anything weird you ate or..." Lance vaguely gestured in front of them, running out of potential bad ideas Keith could have pulled out of his bad-ideas-magic-hat. 

"I don't. Told you. I don't know." Honest answer, but not reassuring at all. 

 

They locked eyes. A silent settled. Lance sighed, defeated.

 

"I think we should adress this to..."

"NO !" Immediatly after shouting across the room, cutting Lance abruptly, Keith curled up and choked into his hands. His lungs did not appreciated the spasmodic scream.  Moment was gone. Pain was back and unfortunately, even worse.  

 

"Okay, buddy, I'm good at keeping secrets." Lance winked at the words. "I won't tell anyone, okay ? But at least, don't you think we should chack you with the pods or something ? 

"Unnecessary. I don't think I need them to recover." Keith insisted. He was sure that these could spill the milk before they had any chance to cover up.

"You're stupidly stubborn, you know that ?"

 

Shuffling sound of messed up sheets. Keith turned back to look at Lance. Sat on the edge of the bed, his hand was still hanging in the air from Keith's earlier snapping. His face and most of his torso were in the dark, the bathroom's lights shining behind them. He seemed sleepy. ****Keith leaned on his elbow and grabbed Lance's hand.

It was an innocent move. Out of impulse. He regretted it immediatly afterwards. After all, he had broke their hand-holding, why would Lance agree to... A weak pressing from Keith, and Lance tangled his fingers. Good for Keith he was already fevery, because blushing like he did could have gotten him a forced exam in the pods otherwise. Not an option. 

 

"Listen. Nothing's really alarming to me, but we will have to look at these marks on your skin a little while. "

"Marks ?"

"Yes, these purple things. I thought you got them back in combat or something, but look..."

 

Lance's free fingers traced lines over Keith's back. Fire lines that made his skin burn and his cheeks even more, but Lance was to focused on the stains to notice it. Keith repressed a shriek. Internal screaming had his back in that kind of situation. 

He contorted himself to take a single look at his back. The position was awful. Finally, under the dim lights, he caught what had Lance frowning. Small dots, purple-ish, expending over his pale skin. Definetly not scars, as even them got the weird smudges partially. Not bruises, to even to be shock results. Nor alien bites, since they never encounter anything similar on any paladins. 

 

"I... What if the others see them ? " Keith seemed deeply anxious at the idea of any paladin noticing.

"Seriously ? Man, this is some Alien plot shweep right here", yelled Lance," and you worry about your _perfect skin_ ?" One point for Lance. 

 _"First_ ," Keith stated, seating back up,"Alien had a way better plot. _Second_ , I do worry about the others finding out. _Third_ , perfect skin ?" 

"Ah. Yeah, your face is awful but you managed to have a nice skin on the back... Somehow ?" Lance scratched his neck. Okay, point to Keith, ball in the center. 

"But don't worry. I'm a professional. I got you... _covered_ !"

Eyes glinting, Lance wore the McClain face. Wide grin, wink emoji plastered on his cheeks, the body slightly inching closer to whoever he was talking to. 

 

"You made a pun ?"

"Yes." 

"Oh. " 

"You did not get it ?"

 

Keith wondered if he had to focus on the "Professional" or the "Covered". Or both. As an universal answer, he shrugged his shoulders.  Lance let go his hands and left to the bathroom. The breaking hit Keith off guard. Did he do something wrong or... ? 

 

"Huh, Lance ? I'm sorry ? I really tried but I don't see what's fun in..."

" _Here_." Lance, a small bottle in hand, dropped next to Keith on the bed. He pat the covers next to him. Keith obediently moved up. 

"Show me your back." Lance asked. Something in his tone, anything, but Keith was almost sure it was an order. He reluctantly turned, uneasy at the idea to show any weak spot to Lance. _You're on his bed, in his room, and you woke him up, dumbass._ Did he really had any choice whatsoever ? 

"What are you doing ? Is that a cure ?"

"It's concealer. I'm giving this up for you, make it a statement. I'm _covering_ you back. That's the pun."

Keith raised a brow. Make-up ? What for ? 

 

"AH !" Ice boy didn't got his lion by chance.

"Sorry, it's cold." Lance apologised. Or smirked. Or maybe both. Keith was pretty sure he was at least half disgusted at the idea of rubbing odd marks on his back. He gulped loudly as the chill hands returned. 

 

Back at it again. Covered in creamy powder, long fingers laced of Keith's skin, rubbing over the tainted parts of it. He could feel Lance's nails carefully breezing over his back. Keith arched under them, uncomfortable at first. As they went on, Lance hands warmed up, and Keith's shoulders dropped under them.

The boy had risked a glance at the other. Lance seemed not to care, in fact about what he was touching. Eyebrows frowned, lips sealed, pouting, the blue paladin seemed absorbed in his task, forgetting who's or why's. Keith blinked, genuily relieved Lance was not wearing this disgusted, repulsed look he had sometimes, like when placed in front of Coran's kitchen or chores duty.

Keith was relieved, and gleeful. It felt like the boy was drawing constellations on it. Random spots of touch, electrical impulses. Red spread across his face at the speed of light. A drum started beating over in his head and in his chest. What were they _actually_ doing ? Was it _really_ that random for Lance to paint peoples' back with his bare hands in the middle of the night, or... ?

Keith let out a loud sigh, a mix of intertwined emotions. Overall, the sensation of someone gently covering your back - oh, covering, he got it now- with slimy cream was nice. Even more when you were a touch-starved orphan living in the desert for the past year.But there was also... Something. Like, he could not quite put a finger on it, but Lance's touch was... _emotional_. For an instant, Keith wished they did that more often. Hanging out, do unusual teenager stuff. Ramble. Hold hands. The instant never vanished and Keith looked away. His lips got bruised a little more under his teeth bite. 

 

_What was he thinking ?_

 

Otherwise, it was quite a thought work for Lance, as their skin carnation color was different, but he managed to do something passable with the powder. Keith skin's was dangerously hot. He always considered Keith as a "heater" type of guy, considering how light his clothes were. Constantly radiating fire. But to this point ? He felt like ice melting upon his back. He braced himself at every touch, chewing his lips over how close they standed. How far away they still were. How further he could get.

Never he had been as implicated in make-up work. Sure, he did his sister's prom face, and it was grandiose and a masterpiece but... Nothing comparable to the promise he made to Keith. Trust and sharing was so rare, he cherished it. It made him feel important, as something was building between them. Building upon a secret, maybe a dangerous secret, sure, but a secret nonetheless, than only the two of them shared. A night confidence, feverish and sweaty. How double-sided could that be ? And why was he even _thinking_ about how this could be interpreted at _anything_ else ? 

Lance shook his head and reached for the concealer bottle, the only fresh spot in the hot darkness of the room. He was _this close_ to spray his face to cool down. He did not, however, and went on taking a walk with his fingers on Keith's back.  

A dozen of minutes later, Lance had transformed Keith skin and made invisible the marks. 

Keith sneezed. The room's temperature had rose of at least five degrees. Lance relaxed back and passed a hand on his face. The moment was gone, but the intensity had them a bit dazed and confused for some seconds, before they broke the silence. 

 

"You can look now." stated Lance, moving back. "I did my best." Once again, Keith bent and turn to check down his spine. Spotless. He could dream some darker spots here and there but the job was incredibly fine.

"It's a nice work. Thank you, Lance". He was impressed. Not surprised, however, but impressed. 

 

Keith detached his gaze from his back to look at Lance. They stood there in silence for a minute or two. Keith was not sure if it was the headache of something else that made his mind drifting and his palms sweaty, and his heart rushing and his cheeks blushing, but damn... At least it was somehow... pleasant ? And reassuring. He had a sure hand to reach out for. For once, he was not alone anymore. A shy smile spread across his face. 

Then Lance started humming. All of sudden. At first, it was just a deep noise, hollow. Then it evolved into a muted sound, an eerie melody. 

Lance started humming at the edges of the bed, and his fingers intertwined back with Keith's. Eyes shut, lips sealed, head balancing, the blue boy was purring more than anything, singing with no words but singing nonetheless. 

It was a sweet melody. Honey dripped from Lance's throat, melt into the atmosphere. Keith started to loosen himself. He lowered his head back on the pillow, letting his eyelids close themselves. Only peering at Lance from a slit, he felt the tension in his jaw melt down. Metallic taste of blood from bruised lips, sweet sweat scent. He watched Lance's adam's apple move up his neck. Pretty lips, long eyelashes. He could smell Lance's soothing song. Quite litterally. His senses sharpened seconds over seconds again. 

Bursting his eyes back open, Keith sit up abruptly. Lance stared at him. No more humming. 

Two heatbeats, two breathings, the warmth radiations, the bathrooms light, the towels' freshness, every dimple, every stroke of hair, the worried look... everything rushed back again into Keith's mind, drowning him again in sensations too accurate, to intense, to real for him to bear. " _Help_ ". 

 

" Huh, Keith ?" Lance watched him slowly raise his hands to his ears. 

"Stop it"

"Yeah, I stopped singing, what is..." It definitly was not the song. Keith fists were clenched now, his shoulders tensed up again. His head began to hurt, blood pumping back loudly at his temples. He scrunched his nose, sealed his eyes. Blood glinting at dugs of his nails in his palms, the teen pressed his hands hard over his ears. 

"STOP IT, please..." 

 

The scream startled Lance. His hands went over to his chest, his head tilted backwards, eyes pained. Keith was balancing on himself, hair tangled up in his hands as he pressed some more his palms on his head as he tried to shut off the world around. 

To saw them, both in scared, fearful defense position was quite eye-tearing. Lance was the first to move. The air was filled with Keith's panting and weeping. The sound broke Lance's heart a little. His hands reached Keith's face, cupping it gently. He tried to stay calm. Keith locked eyes with the void. He choked back tears and bite his lip even more.

 

"Spill more blood on those lips and I'll have to transfuse you some of mine" humored Lance. What a pitiful attempt to lighten the mood. 

 

With utterly softness, he wiped away the blood pearl tearing down from Keith's lip with his thumb. He ignored the nails that dug in his skin when he moved Keith's wrists away from his head, preventing him from crushing his skull. At this point, Keith was the living embodiment of everything Lance ever knew about him. 

Sharp.

 

"Stop what ?", whisperd Lance," I don't even know..." Then it clicked. He had an idea. Maybe not the best, but at least it was a start. 

"I may be onto something", Lance said softly,"so can you walk, now ?" 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brace yourselves, they're pining hard. If you have any ideas/comments/anything, tell me, i'll see what I can do, because it's edited like... everyday !
> 
>  


	4. You're heavy but don't let go - or - the chapter that did not made it in the final cut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith drowns in Lance's arms. Or almost die trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small cut i wanted to add but since it did not fit with what i wrote, have it as a separate chapter !

"Does it look... does it really look like I can walk now ?" Keith whispered furiously.

Sat at the top of the bed, face cupped in Lance's hand, the boy looked flushed red, eyes dazed, skin sweaty. This could have been pretty hot if didn't ran a high-fever by now.  
He shook off his head to pry away Lance's hands. _Stop touching me or i'll explode you dumb idiot._

Ho hell, he was starting to get delirious. No way he could really, _really_ , get flustered at Lance's skin contact right ? He darted a look at the blue eyes. Questionning. 

"Well, you're surely warmer than usual but..." Lance started.

"Lance, I barely crawled to get here for fuck's sake." Keith was getting angry and nervous. He was tired and just wanted everything to stop. 

"But you're better now ?"

"I _was_." Keith's voice was, at this point barely audible for Lance. To him, it felt like screaming, so loud, so noisy, in the silence of the room. Does fever does that too ? He never really had one to compare with.

Hell. He never even had _anything_. Any headache he could remember was some falling, sparring or bumping into randoms things. It was commotion. Consequence. He never caught a cold. Did he got vaccinated ? He did not got vaccinated. He couldn't put any names on any medications, even though he has a mad good memory. Never went to the infirmary for the flu. For a shaky breath. Keith _never_ got sick. Ever. 

He helped Shiro recover multiple times. He went to military hospitals without mask on. Not a single symptom ! Maybe... maybe it was not normal. Maybe this was only because if he actually got sick... 

"Lance ?" blurted out Keith.

"Yeah ?"

"I think I'm dying."

Lance's eyebrows reached for the ceiling. And from any of the reactions he could pick... He bursted out laughing. Keith curled up his nose. Not that Lance's laugh was not a pleasant sound - it was -  but Lance was an annoying, obnoxious, stupid, pretty, and dumb guy okay ? 

No, Keith felt bad because first, the noise really hurt his ears... even if, at this point, Keith did not even noticed anymore, the dagger spiking in his brain becoming part of his world. And second, because... Keith really was worried ? This was an emergency ? He was dying and this asshole LAUGHED ? 

Wiping a tear away with a manucured finger, Lance snorted. "Oh boy. _You're dying_?" He was not even trying to sound concerned, laughter spilling in his voice. 

"Yes, and you're not helping." Keith ran a hand up his fringes, seriously furious now.

"Keith, it's just a headache and a bad fever." 

"It's _not_."

"Really ?" 

"You know it." Even with his brain splitting apart, Keith managed to bring back his defiant tone from the depths of his throat.

Lance calmed down instantly. He stared at Keith. Piercing blue eyes, sliding under his skin, slipping to his nails, his mouth, his eyes. Lance studied Keith, all curled up on his bed. Keith became uneasey after the third minute of intense scrutating passed. He began picking his nails, pinch his fingers, anything to look away from Lance. 

Miles away from Keith's struggle, Lance stood up. 

"Alright then. You're dying, you can't walk, and you need me. How _pleasant_." Snarky tone, soft eyes. Lance was joking, and walked over the door, clenching it slightly open. 

"I don't need you." Keith persisted, but the both of them knew the truth. 

Lance did not even bothered answering. He just raised a brow, his hand still on the altean door screen. Keith turned his head, averting his eyes. _Defeated, boy,_ thought Lance. Small victories.  

"Since there's no other options for you than to get my plan running, I'll need you to open up a little."

" _What_." Sentences like this, coming out from Lance's mouth, could mean nothing and anything. 

"There we go, hop, hop hop !" While chanting, Lance parted away Keith wrists from his chest. He put a hand behind his knees, placed the other on Keith's back. He shifted a little, breathing deeply - the sound of a tornado blasted in Keith's brain, actually - and lifted. First, Keith let himself get carried away. Then, the real contact of Lance's warm palms at two different places became dangerously alarming. 

"What are you doing ?!" Keith sounded offensed and weirdly enough, happy. This somehow electrified Lance, who bobbed his head.

"I already did that."

"No ?" Keith pouted. He was not entirely sure and pulled up the 'i'm trying to lie' face. Wich failed, because he was currently on the verge of tears.  

"You weren't that conscious. Grip tight or I'll drop you." Lance winked. In Lance's arms, Keith tensed himself, embracing tighter the neck of the blue paladin. They started moving, Lance visibly comfortable with Keith's weight. Sidenote, but Lance was a really good actor. Totally unrelated. 

Keith let his head rest on Lance's upper chest. Through the fabric of his shirt, he could feel the skin. A heartbeat, similar to bass-boosted drums he used to listen to, repetitively hit his ears. _It's Lance's. If I wanted to, I could rip his heart now_... Keith had intrusive thoughts. He did _not_ liked it. But something else was off.

"You already did ?"

"Yeah. Almost two hours ago, when a scrappy boy woke me up to take care of of him as a sick baby." Lance pushed the door and strolled down the alley. Keith buried his head deeper, clenching his eyelids. The lights, still too bright.  

"I'm not a baby."

 "Well, you sure pout and get carried a lot, then." Lance teased. His tone was off, as if he was tired of bickering. It was almost four, after all. 

Keith groaned. He felt responsible for Lance's sleepyness. Curled up inbetween Lance's elbows, his arms laced behind the boy's neck, his face red and his lips pouting, Keith looked _exactly_  like a baby. A big, overheating, grumpy baby.  

It was nice, though. Lance, as skinny as he looked, was a trained paladin of Voltron. He could shoot at unbelievable distances and balance two overgrown guns in his hands. When they sparred together, at first, Keith always won. He was muscular, smaller, and fast. And had a lot of beating history. He used it as an advantage. 

But lately... Lately, Lance was getting better. He managed to throw knives at an alarming speed. He pinned Keith to the ground three times in a row with the same unholy technique - a mix between tickling and shoving, and hair-pulling. Keith wondered where he learn these tricks, but chose not to ask Lance. Thinking further, Keith processed how Lance had started lasting longer in the arena, pushing Keith further and deeper into his combat skills. Trying harder. Running faster at the bots. Resisting better at impacts. He even punched Allura _once_. 

Lance had really grown stronger. 

And it took Keith a dying state to notice. Of course, he noticed _things_ from Lance. What kind of jokes made him laugh - dumb ones. Which alien food he liked better - Hunk's remixes of foreign recipes. What shampoo he tried yesterday - Altean product, surely, but it smelled differently from the last one. The scent still floated around his head, a crown of flowers visible only with the nose. A strong, intense, overwhelming scent. Leaking down Keith's throat, causing him to scoff. Sinking in his lungs, filling the air around.

"Keith ? Keith !" Lance yelled and stopped walking.

It felt nearly impossible for Keith to breath, the sickening smell emplying the surroundings. Keith nails found his throat and started scratching, as if slitting it open could make oxygen enter. Lance started panicking and lost his balance, only keeping Keith in his arms thanks to strenght. And he lacked strenght. Putting Keith down, holding him by the waist only, his chin rested on the boy's head, Lance eyed around.

"Keith, _babe_ , you're heavy." As if humor could change anything. Keith was literally melting in his arms, but not for the reasons Lance wished he would. 

_Quick. Anything to do the trick._ Lance started running, hunching Keith over his shoulders. His arms could not last long, but his legs surely could compensate by making them reach their destination faster. Finally, at a last turn and he saw it. The elevator. Racing to the buttons, he smashed against the wall, leaning on it slightly downwards to have gravity do the trick. 

On his chest, Keith was still scoffing, claws digging his neck. Blood tainted Lance's shirt. The mute fuss of the moving door closing followed him while he lowered Keith to the ground. When the boy stopped choking, none of them said anything.

_'Don't mention it'_ was growing as a rule between them. 

 

 


	5. Little bonus - or - He's heavy and super hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just Lance carrying Keith i have 0 excuse

Hey guys ! Thanks you so much for reading this - ~~as I'm kind of long to update, here's something to push off the wait !~~  The update is here ! Thank you for sticking with me, don't forget to tell me if there's anything you'd like me to know ! I'm super open for idea and recs ! :3

\- also i have a tumblr if you have time to spear it's [here ](http://edelwary.tumblr.com/)- 


	6. Sickening flow - or - Why is it only with you I feel like this ?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith panicked. Way too much. So what's more natural for Lance than to come up with a brilliant idea ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to @novarami19 for the help and the correction ! You're doing amazing !

"Lance, I swear, if this breaks again, I'm going to kill you." Keith said. He blinked five times in a row, trying to accomodate to the lights of the elevator. Lance pushed the buttons and the doors, shuffling slowly, closed behing him as he dropped Keith on the floor to sat down.

"Relax, dude. Those kinds of things never happens twice." Lance raised his hands to his shoulders, massaging them discreetly. Keith was a bit heavier than his kind of build supported, and walking down a whole corridor while having him hunched over your shoulder was not as easy as expected.

They had left his room minutes ago, after Keith had calmed down. His state worried Lance a whole lot more since his panic attack. Keith with a fever, why not. The guy still was a pain in the ass, but nothing a cold towel and a nap couldn't cure. Collapsing Keith, fine. Heavy, breath-taking or sleep deprived, it was manageable.

However, panicked Keith, crying mess Keith, anxious Keith, hands stuck to the ears, nails digging the flesh... Disoriented Keith, with his eyes open so wide the whole iris was visible... Screaming Keith...

Lance began to regret every choice he ever made in these moments. Not that it was his fault. He just had the habit of taking responsibility for _everything_. He really feared what was hidden beneath when he had removed Keith's wrists from his face earlier. Pain distorted his whole body...

What was actually going on, exactly ?

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but if it does break down, I am not climbing 'back to back' up there with you again." Keith was still grumpy about their first -and only- trip to the pool.Understandable, since they barely made it in the water before going back to fight.

"Nothing. Will. Happen!" Announced Lance, before waving his hand, "This elevator is a jewel of Altean technology and I finally know how to get up to the pool now, so everything will be fine." The first part was an assumption, the second was an expectation.

He asked Coran about Altean pools and apparently, you had to turn gravity a certain way to 'increase the flotation'. Alteans were heavier and their mass differed from humans, so they needed some adjustments to float.

Keith glared dead into Lance's eyes. Lance smiled back, confidence plastered across his face. "I promise. Besides, you should stop complaining because walking stopped your coughing, so thank your sexy nurse." Lance winked, squatting down to Keith level.

The elevator shifted a little. Keith, arms crossed over his chest, raised a brow. "You're not _sexy_. Plus, I'm still cold and my eyes can't stand lights." He said that in a calm tone. Nothing to be worried about, just usual grumpyness. Classic Keith.

Lance chuckled, and fakely horrified, raised a hand to his chest, dramatically clutching his heart. If someone had told him yesterday that Keith's indifferent tone would be a pleasure to hear in the middle of the night, he probably would have laughed right to their face.

Not that he _liked_ Keith voice. It was deep and reassuring, calming, sure, but sometimes it would raise a little or crack if he was groggy, and there were some accents he took at times...

Okay, maybe he liked Keith voice, but in the way it meant he was still alive and ready to ruin the day. He was Lance's rival, and he really couldn't stand him, not at all. The guy was a pain in the ass and really obnoxious.

"Lance, are you okay?" Keith, observed Lance biting his lip. He asked the question to get him out of his mindstate.

 _See_? This was what Lance talked about ! Always sticking his nose in stuff! Really _not_ a cool dude at all. With his mouth ready to sass Keith, Lance rolled his eyes and darted at him.

It was at this moment the elevator chose to open its doors, sparing Lance the difficult task to answer wittily to Keith.

The problem is, if the elevator _chose_ to open its doors, it only stopped. The two boys inside clearly heard the shuffling of the ascent fade, followed by a metallic clanking. Nothing more.

The machine was rigged.

"Lance..." Keith growled. Lance raised his hands in a defensive motion.

"Hey, cool down, I did nothing, okay? The doors will open in a second, they need to adjust, that's all." Made up excuses were one of Lance's many very specific skills. Unfortunately, he never learned how to break out of elevators. In fact he did, but not with a sick bastard on his hands.

"Plus, this time we have lights, which is cool. We'll just wait, okay?" He had a degree in not-acknowledging-bad-situations too. In response, Keith darted his gaze away. 

The silence became awkward when his cough came back. Punctured by coughing, the small space began to feel embarrassing. Keith was still half dressed with his back glued to the metal walls. The cold viciously froze his whole body. He could feel the fever running back to him, knowing that it went away for too long. His throat was dry again. Great.

Both of the paladins wanted to talk, but their minds ran empty on subjects. Shifting from missions to books, to movies, to stunning facts he's been stocking up since he was like, three years old, Lance tried like crazy to break the silence in the elevator.

Keith always noticed the exact moment the blue paladin found something to talk about because his face lit up so bright it hurt his eyes even more.

"Have you seen Evangelion ?" Lance asked, literally shining.

Keith blinked, confused. "I did, a while ago. It's a really old show right?"

"Yeah. But I mean, it's dope and so on. But listen, there's this scene, you know? In the elevator, with the blue and the red girl?"

"Yeah?" Keith wondered what was Lance trying to do.

"Well, I first thought it was a bug in the file. The video stops for like... twelve seconds? But if you wait long enough, it eventually moves again and Asuka screams at Rei!"

"I remember that. I paused and forgot. It took me two minutes before I noticed something was off." The corners of Keith's lips raised a little at the memory. He spent a really long time watching retro movies when he got kicked out, and bringing back pleasant memories, even more in such times...

"Guess we're stuck in the Evangelion elevator then." Lance tumbled down next to Keith and rested his shoulders on the wall, facing the doors. His eyes wandered over them lazily, before focusing on his feet. His fingers tapped lightly on his lap. 

A repetitive sound. 

Keith's eyes followed the noise. Long fingers, polished nails. Thin legs, almost frail. But they could hold him up. Tan skin. Perfect skin. Lance always managed to stay perfect. Hair clean, nails clipped, skin washed. How did he do that ? Where did he even find the time ? 

Keith gazed at his own features. His nails were terrible, bit to blood, edges undefined, sometimes ripped. Skin cracked, covered in bruises and bandages markings. He barely washed, spending any loose time sleeping or training. He smelled terrible, his sickness doing nothing to make things better. 

His mind wandered on his back. The purple bruises, skin patches covered in make-up. Thanks to Lance, _again_. Was he always doing everything so perfectly ?! Never missing any target, never messing his hair, never missing any _girl_ around...

He was so annoying ! Yeah, he was a totally, perfectly annoying boy. Who would never enjoy the company of some dirty desert explorer. And this made his heart ache a little. 

Keith frowned, clenching his fists. Something shuffled through his brain. "Lance. Listen, I..."

He got shut off by a metallic sound. The doors finally seemed to get moving. 

"THEY'RE OPENING!" Lance jumped on his feet, bursting into the pool hall. He ran so fast into the wide space that he almost tripped over. Joy glinted in his eyes as he looked for the gravity pressure button. "Oh, Keith, this is great !"

"Yeah, sure..." Back in the elevator, palms pressed against the wall, Keith had trouble standing up. What was he about to say, really?

Limping out of the cursed zone, he proceeded to the gigantic space. As soon as his ankles passed them, the doors closed shut.

"What the hell?" Keith muttered, astonished. The castle was behaving like an ass to him in particular. He swore he could hear it snicker.

Lance, on the other hand, looked like a child during Christmas. Bent over a console, he was randomly pressing everything on it, thus enhancing a lot of motion on the pool side. He managed to get a current to run in the water, he lit up at least three different places, activated and de-activated a dozen of fountains and found the temperature regulator.

Leaning on the wall, arms crossed, Keith observed him play.

They never stopped running. The last few months had been filled with endless battles, countless missions and sleepless nights, restless races across the universe to save whoever needed Voltron's help. Those rare moments of peace, disturbed by nothing more than an inconvenient elevator and a fever... Keith had almost forgot why he was here in the first place.

 _Oh right_ , Lance dragged him here because he collapsed in his arms.

A screech interrupted the flow of random thoughts in Keith's mind. Soon after, a strumming sound, metallic and low, shook the whole place. Keith's neck almost snapped at how fast he turned back to Lance.

"Lance, what did you do?!" Keith pressed his hands back on his ears. This was slowly becoming an habit. A hurtful habit, as his nails sharpened more and more and the sounds amplyfied all the time.

Lance was grinning, looking terribly excited. He turned to Keith and ran to him. He grabbed his arms and pulled him away from the wall. Surprised, Keith followed, running after him.

Stunned by Lance's firm grasp, Keith reacted too slow to stop the train he had jumped on when he let go of the wall with Lance.

"Seriously, what did you touch?" Lance stopped abruptly in the center of the room, right under the water, wich seemed to move more and more.

His face was awfully close to Keith's. The boy would have lied if he denied blushing. He was terrible at lying anyways. Lance's hands moved from Keith's arms to his shoulders, right under the locks of hair he had over his nape. His thumbs rubbed over Keith's collarbones.

"Do you trust me, Mullet?" Breath to breath, nose to nose, they stood there for two seconds at most. Keith's jaw dropped. Lance got closer.

"Do you?" His hair smelled like vanilla. Keith knew because it was ruffling his forehead and tangling with his own unwashed fringe.

"Ye-yeah? I mean, I guess but--" His trembling voice got covered by a loud clank.

Lance bit his lips and sealed his eyes, leaning towards Keith. Before he could even think about doing anything about it, their toes left the ground.

Suddenly, Keith was floating. He would thank his overly accurate senses later, for having let him perfectly register this precise moment, a half-second lasting instant. It felt like centuries. Just as dreams felt like hours even if they're barely seconds.

Lance had somehow found out how to open up the windows' shutters, thus exposing the pool to the open space. Left untouched for thousands of years, the glass was invisible, allowing the stars to look as bright as they where. Purple gases formed trails across galaxies around them. Millions, billions of dots of light and in the center, the two of them.

Lance sailed them through space. He was laughing, millimeters away from Keith's face. His hands firmly on Keith shoulders, he exhaled shampoo and sweat, and joy and delight. His knees brushed against Keith's laps because he had propelled them in the air. His teeth glinted under the neons, bruising his lower lip. They could have been surrounded by twenty thousand more stars, and all of their light could have been poured into Keith's eyes, he still would not have closed them. Just to look half a second more at Lance scrunched up nose, curled lips, dusty freckles, and interminable eyelashes.

At the very moment the water surrounded them, it only took Lance's breath away. Keith had already got his own air stole and thus knew two things.

First, Lance had decided to swim fully clothed.

Second, he was screwed.

He sealed his eyes right when the air became liquid. Lance's hands released his shoulders, his nails grazing the skin before the water separated them. The fever and cramps were washed away. Keith let go.

Like feathers in the winds, their bodies flowed with the water. Once the rush of the waterfall ended, the stream diminished. Pushing the water behind, Lance broke the surface first. His eyes still closed, he heard Keith do the same and breathe heavily.

Water dripped down his cheeks, his hair, and his nose. It felt so good, oh so good. Sure, it wasn't the ocean, and god knows Alteans have strange pools, but it was not so far from it. At this point, even a bath would have sufficed. Lance had not experienced something as soothing and soft in a long time.

He waved his feet in the water. They were at least three meters away from the ground. Lance had good grades in physics, and he knew this defied any law, ever. A giant cube of celestial water flew around in the air, molecules still stuck together. They should have drowned in waterballs, logically, as fluids react by centering when in a no-gravity space. To be fair, there was gravity, but a low one and... Why bother? He was happy.

To be honest, Lance had asked Coran way too many questions about pools. But it did end up being useful.

Realising he was not alone, Lance swam to Keith. It was almost effortless. Years of training and absence of gravity tended to do that. A single stroke of the arm, and he reached the boy's place.

Even with wet hair stuck to his face, he looked ecstatic. Lit up by the pool's reflection, his pale tone seemed almost blue, contrasting against his dark locks so much it amazed Lance.

"This, Lance - this, is amazing." Keith struggled to speak. He kept bubbling water in and out.

To maintain his head over the surface, Lance reached under his armpits and lifted him. Thank five years of marine life-saving classes. Keith laced an arm around his neck and gasped.

"Better, isn't it ? Yeah right, this is amazing. Just like me !" Lance was doing questions and answers, talking to himself as Keith inhaled air back greedily. He then raised a brow, cocking a half-smile at Lance. He seemed fine.

"I feared you wouldn't like it", said Lance, " but there's nothing swimming in space can't cure! Excepted maybe your atrocious haircut." 

"Yeah, I actually do feel better! Fever's dropped." Keith looked at his hands in amusment.

His legs floated above Lance's. The water was transparent and they could look all the way down the to the tiled floor.

"I have even more", Lance teased, "You know how you wanted sound to stop back then?" Keith looked back at him. His mouth was sealed, as if the memory tensed him. Understood, let's not bring this back. "Anyways, I thought you could enjoy this. You ready?"

Lance laced his fingers through the hair on the back of Keith's head.

"You're asking a lot of questions tonight, aren't you?" The boy pointed out.

Lance squinted, fakely offended. "You asked for it, Mullet!" He gulped for air and rounded his cheeks, waiting for Keith to do so.

One surprise per evening, or else he feared backlash from Mr. What-the-fuck-is-that-?! in the form of unimpressed gazes and annoyed sighs. When Keith blinked with the perfect imitation of a hamster, Lance dragged them both under the surface, deep enough for them to be in the middle of the water plane.

Letting go off Keith's head, he started flapping the water around to stay in place. As much as Lance knew how to keep his eyes open underwater, Keith seemed to barely be able to swim at all. Blinking like crazy, letting go large bubbles of air, he gripped Lance's hand with his own so tight the boy feared it would leave scars.

Lance extended his free hand to Keith face and brushed his forehead, before lacing over the boy's eyelids. _There. Now, close your eyes. I didn't bring you down here for you to panic, pretty boy_ , Lance thought. 

As Keith calmed down, Lance rubbed his knuckles, so the fingers holding his hand could loosen up. Keith began to open his eyes again, slowly. It was absolutely silent. 

They floated in water, floating in a castle, floating in space. Noise could never reach them.

Another bubble escaped from Keith's mouth. Lance smiled at him through the water. He let go of his hand totally.

There he was. No senses needed at all. Temperature regulated. Ears were useless, his mouth was sealed. He was alone in the silence and stared at the blurry emptiness of space.

He felt relieved.

When Lance gently took his arm to pull him back to surface, he knew he a rare state of peace. The kind he only found when riding his hoverbike through the open desert or drifting through space in his lion.

Or floating with Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sickness flows, right ? Keith can catch a break if you know what's to come...


	7. Dizzy waters - or - Please stop, you're making me melt inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is cool. Well, he tries too. Lance is cool too. But maybe that's just the side-effect of being in a space pool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, it's here ! Yay !! Thanks a bazillion times to Malori, aka , WritingBookworm for helping me shape this and polish it !! Second hand embarassment here it comes :3

Keith didn’t know what was worse : Lance with his wet white shirt glued to his skin, transforming him into a living marble statue and highlighting his waistline, or Lance without his shirt, which meant tan skin directly exposed to the blue lights of the castle's pool. No matter what, Keith had troubles focusing on anything else other than the moving form of Lance's torso under the surface. He also had to admit it was most definitely  _ not _ due to the fever.

On his side, Lance didn’t know what was better: the fact that he managed to calm Keith down, ditching the serious problem at hand, or the fact that he was swimming  _ in a floating pool _ .

 

Lance had been at it for ten minutes now, back and forth, again and again. Keith wondered how Lance wasn’t getting tired. He was exhausted, and he wasn’t doing anything but hardly breathing. 

What Keith didn’t know was that Lance was one of those people who could never really get tired of swimming.

 

Keith began to reflect on the past minute's events, lazily dozing off as he watched Lance move in the water. 

After the two paladins popped back up at the surface, Lance led Keith to the edges of the pool, and dared not question how the water could hold its form in the air, forming the illusion that it had been poured into an invisible bowl just for them. Keith dared not ask either, and instead hooked his arms over the borders of the floating pool to steady himself.

He silently thanked the Altean laws of physics for allowing him to grip something other than Lance's neck to stay above water level.

 

"You alright ?" Lance brushed a lock of hair out of Keith's eyes, checking his arms and his legs out. The boy was balancing himself by treading the water around him. As their bodies got closer to the ends of the water plane, small waterfalls formed as consequences of the disturbed hydraulic mass.

Both boys stared at the process, mesmerized by what was happening, having never had seen anything quite similar before.

 

Just as everything else they had encountered that evening, the waterfalls did not make any logical sense. Droplets crashed to the ground, but the main flow peaked down before turning and flushing back into the floating pool, creating an endless levitating loop of crystal clear water.

Keith eyes followed the liquid curve; it reflected the lights of the room and some of the brightest stars of space. He was pretty sure he caught a rainbow forming along the fall of the drops too. It looked increasingly eerie and strange, and beautiful.

Lance resurfaced in a splash. Keith was suddenly ripped from his thoughts and realized he still had not answered Lance’s question from earlier.

 

"Yeah, I’m alright. Thanks." He was more than alright. He's never been in such a peaceful, relaxing, soft environment, ever. And such a wet place too which was a stark contrast to what he was used to at his desert shack. It seemed so far away now that he thought about it.

 

"I'm going to take a dip, maybe do a lap or two. Wanna join me ?" Lance's extended a hand near Keith's face, long enough for him to take the invite if he wanted. But Keith had too little energy left and refused. 

 

He shook his head at Lance, sending beads of water his way. "Okay, then, call me if there's anythin'."

Pushing himself away from Keith, Lance reached the center of the pool. He tried a few moves before stopping, looking annoyed.

 

"What's wrong ?" Keith worried Lance wasn’t enjoying this, the pool, the stars… Him. After all, Lance had been sleeping earlier, and maybe he was tired and didn’t want to be there any longer...

 

"My shirt is being too clingy. I’m taking it off." 

 

_ Okay. Stay cool, Keith. Calm and composed. _

 

Lance quickly descended into water, removing the shirt at the elbow as he did so. When he resurfaced, he tossed it away from his head and shook out his hair. Keith turned away, glaring at the galaxies behind him, retreating further back against the walls of the pool.

His ears perked up as he heard a sharp inhale from behind him.  He struggled not to look back at the source of the breath. Was Lance alright? What  was he even doing ? Keith turned his head slightly to shoot a glance back, giving up on curiosity.  

 

That was when Lance dove.

 

In all and for all, Keith had been to a swimming pool a grand total of two times. One time was for actually  _ learning  _ how to swim and the other was for a rescuing exercise in special conditions. For some reason, the Garrison thought that a starship crashing into the ocean had any chances of survival and that pilots needed to be prepared.

 

The thing was, Keith had never really seen anyone swim before. Sure, Shiro was a good instructor and all, but he really just knew how to correctly float. His size didn't help at all either. 

Lance was something else in his own right. Lean and tall and god forbid how skinny he was, he'd been shaped to swim––hell, he was made for it. Years of beach afternoons and swimming competitions had only made that more evident.

 

Lance’s nails pierced in front of him, distorting the matter and breaking reality at least. Water curling around him in gentle waves, he jolted upwards precisely and launched himself across the pool, swift and soft, and silent.

Lance loved swimming. Not just aimlessly floating or moving around in water or even splashing his friends. Sure, that part was definitely fun, but it wasn’t the only thing that attracted him so deeply to the seas. 

Lance loved  _ swimming _ . 

He lived for the thrill of the speed underwater, the depths of the ocean and the crystal clear pools, the swift sensations of liquid velvet running along his arms, water opening her welcoming arms as a silent friend. Seas, rivers, and lakes were so many reminders of her life essence. Lance would drown in a desert, but breathed effortlessly under heavy rains, palms turned to the clouds in a silent thankful prayer. Water was Lance's transparent blood. It was cold and refreshing and fun. It was home.

That all was something he couldn’t exactly get on land nor in air. Even piloting in space did not quite feel anything near as special as diving under the surface.

 

Ten minutes later, he just started his fifteenth lap, and Keith remembered how to breathe.

 

Lance's hands poked through the surface again and sent waves to the border of the pool, creating another waterloop. Below, it was silent and blurry, but he preferred keep his eyes open. From time to time, he stopped focusing on the race set against time and wandered his gaze around. On the stars. On the floor tiles. On legs at the opposite side, circling aimlessly… 

Cracking a smile underwater, Lance shifted his course. He used to prank a lot his siblings at the beach…

 

"SHARK ATTACK!"

 

"LANCE!"

 

Bolting from underwater, Lance grabbed Keith shoulders and dragged him down with him as he plunged back underwater. Forced to dive with Lance, Keith's legs struggled, the grasp on his upper body way too strong thanks to motion. He gave up and crashed down too, refusing to let Lance win, causing for the latter to promptly let go of him.

Cheeks rounded and eyes firmly closed, Keith folded his arms. Underwater. No way he'd try to get back to air, that'd be losing again. Lance’s laugh bubbled to the surface, causing Keith to peer at the boy under his floating bangs. It made him wonder what was so funny.

Stupid idea to retort. The last of his oxygen supply was released out of his open mouth. Keith forced himself upwards, choking on the water that had managed to get in his throat as Lance exploded into laughter beside him.

 

"Man, you really can't stand shark attacks, can you?!" Lance giggled.  


 

"It's not funny ? I could have drowned ?" Keith stated, confused by the humor of what had just happened.

 

"I wouldn't have let that happen. Or maybe I would ?"

 

"Lance!"

 

"You’re trying to tell me that you’ve never had a near drowning experience ? Have never even been to the sea or what?" Lance chuckled, grinning from ear to ear.

 

"Well..." Keith unfolded his arms and gripped the pool's sides to steady himself, his breath still shaky.

 

"No way." Lance's eyes went wide, his eyebrows reaching for ceiling. "Never? Like, ever?" Amusement coursed through his voice but his grin lessened. Keith pouted.

 

"Not like I had the chance..." His voice was rough after coughing so much earlier, making his retort more of a growl instead of the harsh spike he intended. With furrowed brows, he turned away, facing the opposite end of the pool. 

 

_ Sensitive topic. Entiendo. _

 

A splash sound tingled behind him and Lance crashed back into his element,  chewing on his bottom lip. "Hey man, I'm sorry. I just lived right in front of it, I tend to think it's everyone's case." His irises circled around, his fingers fidgeting with the tiny waves his breathing caused. "People never really tell me personal stuff so I just assume... I don't know... My default background story is mine, so..."

Lance ran a hand through his damp hair. His eyes closed, as if he were about to do something. Keith tilted his head, mouth agape. It was almost as if a knife could cut the tension between them.

Lance was  _ this close _ to flinging his head underwater to escape. Some awkward silence began to grow, just as did the redness of his cheeks. He really had to stop doing this. Unable to take it anymore, he just bursted out, startling Keith as he did so.

 

"I'M SORRY ! I'm sorry, I didn't want to sound rude, I mean, everyone's got childhood but you're so secretive, I mean, you never talk about yourself and..."

 

"Lance..."

 

"...I thought it would be better to never ask you anything at all, but apparently it's not the case and I'm sorry about that, but-"

 

"Lance."

 

"I mean, mostly everyone goes to the ocean at some point ? Unless you live pretty far away, but then again… Oh well, I should have knew since you couldn’t swim very well. You’re from Texas after all !” Lance started muttering, more to himself than to Keith “Not to sound like Texans can’t swim or anything, but isn’t it just like a giant desert out there? I mean your swimming is corr..."

 

"LANCE!"

 

Keith released Lance's hands. When did he even take them anyways ? They hung in the air, frozen, and both boys stopped. The deadly silence that followed every single of Keith's explosive shouts expanded so  much that even the water loops seemed to stop for a second.

Lance curled his fingers, digging the nails into the palms to restrain himself from screaming back or screaming in general. Keith gulped, breaking through wall-thick air to explain himself.

 

"It's fine. I never told you, you couldn't have known.." Lance nails stopped burrowing themselves into his flesh as the boy composed himself once more. With his eyes averted, Keith rambled on. 

 

"I doubt even Shiro knows it all. It's just... I just went from family to family as a kid, and basically spent most of my teenage years in various orphanages, so..." Lance hovered a hand over Keith's shoulder. Warmth radiated from it, soft and fading in the air.

"I never had any real family to talk to, or any real friends for that matter. And now, I have... all of you guys, and... I forget sometimes I never told you that at all."

 

Lance's hand jolted away as if he got electrocuted. He gritted his teeth. 

 

"Yeah. You have all  _ six  _ of us." 

 

Keith's eyes flickered at the tone of Lance’s voice. 

 

"Any of us would do the same for you."

 

_ What the hell, Lance ? _

 

"You're so  _ special  _ after all. Best pilot of the Garrison, most agile of us all, fastest fighter, brightest student of his generation. I bet I didn’t even get to half of your talents!"

 

_ Lance, idiota, stop! _

 

"You're Keith ! You're mysterious, handsome, and perfect ! Any of us would do anything for you, right ! Why don't you ask Pidge ? I bet she would have loved to have you collapsing in her arms if you had made it to her door !" 

 

"It's not what I meant and you know it." Keith's eyelids lowered. Lance’s sarcasms hurt him more than he was willing to admit. Lance snapped an index at him, pointing his chest.

 

"Oh, you think ? Because, if you don't mind, I'll tell you what I think, if that matters to you at all? You're the worst, most ungrateful, full of himself, stupidly proud, unreasonable asshat I've _ever_ met. I just passed the last two hours taking care of you, for what ?"

 

Lance nail dug a little further into Keith's chest, who froze, still as rock. He could have turned into a marble statue and there would have been no difference. Maybe his sculpted self would have sunk deep down in the pool, but his chest felt so heavy now Keith believed he was about to drown too anyways. His breath was stuck in his throat and he felt a rasp feeling slowly burning up, warming his back.

 

"I'll tell you what. To be one in a million. I could save your sorry ass a dozen more times, break my back for you, and I still would be ‘Lance the cargo pilot’ you forgot about, miles behind you ! You never care about anyone but yourself! No one in the entire universe! You never cared about  _ me _ . I was stupid to think that that would change for even one night.”  in this universe, you never care about  _ me,  _ and it’s not about to change over the course of one night !"

 

Lance paused, huffing. His rant had ended on a scream sounding more desperate than he wished and he was out of breath. He had sorted it all out, but was not sure he felt lighter. Just emptier.  

 

"That's not true." Keith's eyes were reduced to a line now. Metallic taste spread on his tongue and he realized he was biting it. Hard. 

 

"Yes it is. I thought you wanted me to help you, but let's be real. You just happened to fall in front of my door by accident." Lance hissed. His fingers had probably drawn blood at this point. "Am I wrong?"

 

Keith lips revealed his teeth. His fangs. Behind his sticky bangs, he was almost blind. Not just because the salty water had plastered his hair against his forehead, but cause now he was really boiling and nothing really mattered anymore. 

Lance moved his face even closer. Risky and dramatic.  _ Classic _ . His entire hand was plastered against Keith’s chest now. At this point, only the saline smell of his hair remained in the air, abstracting everything. 

 

"So ? Am I special to you, or not?" Lance lips formed the words but Keith couldn’t hear anything other than the blood pumping through his temples, so loud he couldn't even hear himself think. Maybe he was not thinking anymore.

 

Maybe that's why he decided to bite Lance.

 

* * *

 

"Keith, again, what the FUCK ?!"

 

"I told you, I DON'T KNOW !"

 

The past minutes had been incredibly awkward. Keith had bitten Lance who screamed because apparently "AYE, THAT’S NOT AN ANSWER KEITH !", then Lance yelled because he was bleeding, and screamed again but more along the lines of "WHAT THE QUIZNACK KEITH", then Keith shout,  because he was "SORRY LANCE !" and things kind of calmed down from there.

Lance pinched the bridge of his nose as he replayed in his mind the whole thing, unsure on how to feel about it at all. 

Keith bit his hand, hard, though ! Sure, Lance was maybe pushing a little too far, but  _ still _ .  _ You just don’t bite people !  _ Then, he screamed an awful lot and Keith apologized. Reluctantly, confusedly, but still. He said sorry. Somewhat. 

 

_ Okay ! Fine ! Maybe he just grunted ! _ grunted.  _ But from Keith that’s a full paragraph long apology isn’t it ?  _

 

To say the least, everything was a little tensed now. Lance let go off his nose, waving his fingers around again, unsure of what to do with his hands now.

What was this guy even  _ thinking  _ about ? Gnawing him like a werewolf. Or a vampire. Maybe Keith was a vampire ? That would  explain a lot… Never going out, incredibly pale skin even after a year in a desert hideout, troubles in sleeping patterns, emo style on the borders…

Oh dear, he’d even draw blood out of the bite, for Earth’s sake ! What a dentition. 

 

“But doesn’t vampires have like, manners from the victorian era or something ? Keith is a quiznack pain in this ass every single second, no matter what.” mumbled Lance. Keith did not reacted. 

 

_ Yeah. A real pain. Of course. Keep telling yourself that, Lance.  _

_ Shush!  _

_ Oh, great, I’m having a full argument alone now.  _

 

“Lance, is everything okay ?” Keith interrupted what was now a rap battle in Lance’s head, mildly concerned about the silence of his teammate. Lance waved it off. 

 

"Yeah... I just… I can't  _ believe  _ it." Lance shook his head and flung his arms open. Which consequently let him sink lower into the pool. Keith, in front of him, started hiding his face, a hand covering his mouth.

 

"I  _ repeat _ , I don't know why I did this. I just...You were really close and I..."

 

The sentence floated away, words hung in the air.  _ And I _ what ? 

 

"Yeah, I get it, I'm too handsome for you to handle and you decided you wanted a piece of me r." Lance smirked, shrugging. Keith darted his eyes at him, brows tangled but smiling behind his hand. This guy had a knack for lighting things up. And the smile for it too. 

 

"You're joking, right ?"  _ Beware Keith, you’re on a track you’ve never walked on before.  _

 

"Well, it's the only explanation." Lance counted on his fingers, mimicking an intense reflexion. Or actually thinking. Keith couldn't decide. "Unless you decide to put this on your 'fever' again." Fingers crooked into a visual quotation mark, Lance interrogated Keith with his eyes.

 

"I guess..."

 

"What, you're actually telling me this was some weird sickness of yours again ? I can't believe this guy, seriously !" Speaking to an invisible audience, Lance gestured around foolishly. Drama queen, stage artist, lit up on every side, his movements claimed him as the center of the attention, no matter how little it was right now.

 

Keith felt relieved. If Lance had ever been angry at him, it was forgiven. At least he hoped so.

 

"Ha. Well, to be fair... I think it's because I’m hungry."

 

Lance stopped randomly pushing water to maintain his level and stared at Keith. His eyes round, he slowly started pouting. 

 

"What ?"

 

"You're telling me, myself, I, Lance, the blue paladin of Voltron, sharpshooter or the team..."

 

"Cut it off, Lance."

 

"No. Where was I... Oh yeah, exceptional swimmer, amazing friend and awesome pilot, ME, that if YOU bite MY hand, just as we were ARGUING, it was only because you were HUNGRY ?" Lance darted his index again at Keith, right under his nose this time. Keith withdrew his head in a terrible triple-chin impression.

 

"Yeah ?"

 

" _AY_ POR DIOS !"

 

Lance plunged his head back into the pool again and furiously started swimming, leaving a really dazed Keith on the side. A trail of huge bubble followed his head and if suddenly water had turned into air, well... Keith's ears would have suffered a real deal. 

Screaming underwater therapy, recommended by your local blue paladin. 

 

"Better now ?" Keith threw his words across the pool cautiously, aware that Lance screams - and his own, to be fair- had started to beat some drums back into his head. 

 

"Yeah. I guess..." Lance was crawling towards Keith again, head above water. As he reached the pool's side, Keith snorted.

 

"You look like a hippo."

 

"Have you even ever seen an hippo ?"

 

"Well..." Keith fidgeted with a black lock of his hair.  


 

"HO, COME ON ! You've never been to the ocean but you've witnessed hippos ?" Lance had his head balanced above the void of the room now, looking down towards the tiles of the floor.

 

"I... They had this zoo back in my third family and..." Keith trailed off, stopping at Lance’s assertive raised hand. 

 

"Okay, okay, I believe you. Now I got a serious question because I don't want you to chew me off again," Ignoring Keith’s groan, Lance pointed his fingers towards the floor, “How do we get down there ?" 

 

Letting his arm gravitate back into the water, Lance shoot a look at Keith, whose hair had started to dry in curly locks after some time out of the water. 

His mouth slightly open, he looked dumbfounded like never before. His brows furrowed themselves and he started glancing around. 

 

_ Getting back down... _

 

"I guess we could swim to the bottom ?"

 

"Woaw, Keith, I knew your plans were terrible but that's something ! I take back everything i said, you’re no prodigy of strategy." Lance deadpanned.

 

"I never said I was great at it, you did. How about  _ you  _ come with a plan, then !" Keith grinned. Lance raised an eyebrow and shot his signature half-cocked smile before waving his fingers. Somehow, Keith's grin grew wider.

 

_ Show-off.  _

 

Lance leaned downside, his chest out in the air in a really dangerous way. "Look. These waterfalls looping there are small, but if we disturbed the surface with waves big enough to enlarge the flow, we could slide down the current toward the floor."

 

As he spoke, Lance moved his hands around the pool, waving in the general direction of the castle ground at last. "And at the lowest point, which is I assume around two meters high, we jump down. Now the only thing is, you'd probably need to catch your breath for a long time."

Keith pouted. Not that the plan was bad, because it was actually the best they had, and probably better than anything he would have ever came up with, and quite clever to be honest, and... 

Anyways. He could not catch this breath this long for sure, let alone open his eyes under the water.

 

Lance elbowed him out of his thoughts. A cocky smile and a another raised brow ? He was up to something. Again.

 

"Orrrr..." Lance rolled the 'r', visibly savoring the instant, " _ I  _ could do that, and lower the gravity until you jump down, saving you for the... what ? fifth time tonight ?"

 

Keith caught the bait. Their heated discussion may had been swept under the rug for now, it surely was waiting for its moment to blow back at them.

 

"No. I'm doing this with you !"

 

"Ah, good ol’ rivalry ! Perfect, we just need some move now !"

 

Without a second of hesitation, Lance dragged Keith by the wrists, leading him into the center of the pool. Locking eyes with him, he started wrestling with the water, rolling and twisting around until the biggest of the loops grew enough to let a Lance-sized human jump in it.

 

"Okay, now you follow me."

 

The both of them took a breath and Keith shoot a wish at the stars. Still led by Lance, they floated underwater, slightly pulled by the current, now stronger than ever. Compared to the small loops of water he watched before, this one was huge, and terrifyingly looming the void.

It felt like standing on the edge of a cliff. Pulled and pushed in directions he had no control over, swirling like a feather, Keith's stomach went down his knees and back up in his throat. And he was pretty sure his lungs were about to explode, too.

 

Too late to regret, though.

 

Lance was already waist-down the waterloop and taking Keith with him in his fall, head first. Keith closed his eyes.  _ This is how I die, drowning in this stupid altean pool _ . Pressure and speed increased and suddenly, his whole body was dragged down toward the floor and... Lance.

 

"AHOO COÑO !"

 

"Ouch ! My ears Lance !"

 

Keith sat down and started rubbing his head, carefully breathing. When he noticed Lance had been silent for more than twenty seconds while they were just about to fight, he decided maybe it was time to open his eyes to check around.

 

Decisions, decisions, terrible decisions.

 

Keith had always focused more on piloting and fighting classes in the garrison than in physic and maths class. However, he did not ignored two of the basic things they teach you in school ; first, that any falling object lands mostly on its larger side, let's say its back for a human body. And second, than any object roughly identical to the first, in an identical situation, tend to follow the same path.

 

Considering those two facts, the eventuality of a Lance falling on his back and a Keith falling on top of him, after jumping out of what's called a waterloop on low gravity, is roughly equivalent to one hundred per cent. Keith even had a physical simulation to prove it. 

Science rules. 

 

At least Keith felt lucky he dropped facing Lance's legs. Because the other way around would have been... He fervently shook the idea out of his mind.

 

"Hum... Keith... Would you mind... Removing..." Lance's voice emerged behind his back, hesitating between frankly embarrassed and mildly annoyed, although Keith was sure he could hear something else in the mix. He did not took the time to analyse anything and jumped on his feet, like striked by the sound.

 

Which was details away from the truth.

 

"Hah. Sorry."

 

"It's fine."

 

How awkward. Keith faked a really deep examination of his toes, hyperfocusing on the sound of Lance’s pants ruffling as he stood up behind him. Oh, great, now they were both damped wet and half naked. How come he survived ten full minutes of shirtless Lance without launching himself into space already ? 

A chill shiver shook them both without distinction. Ten thousand years of frozen air were not about to heat themselves up thanks to teenage banter and unspoken tension. What was this night about already ?! 

 

Oh. Right, Keith almost dying from a fever.  

 

"So, you're hungry." Keith's neck almost snapped at how fast he turned to face Lance, who distractedly brushed a thumb over his bruised hand. At least it was not bleeding anymore.  Lance had spoken faster than his thought and maybe, maybe blushed a little. But blue lights are very inefficient these days.

 

Keith nodded. Lance, still mumbling, walked toward Keith. His hands found a way to the pale skin of the neck and traced a line over collarbones.

Combustion may look cool, but when it's your face that goes all red it's not, Keith.

 

Lance, on the other hand, seemed to be further away than the galaxies, lost in his own mind. Gently, he pushed Keith on the sides to make him turn around.

 

_ Oh crap _ . The make-up must had worn off totally by now. No way he could do anything about it. Has if having terrible hair and weird eyes wasn't enough, he had to have horrible skin too ? Not that it mattered what Lance could think of him, actually, but...

 

"It's worse. They're all over the place now." Lance, a million miles away from Keith's struggles, quit examining him and walked towards his discarded wet shirt on the floor. The bubble’s gravity had let it down. Keith fists curled up.

 

"Sorry for being a disgrace." Keith had whispered. The loud clank of the iron stores covered up his voice. Further in the room, Lance rigged up some buttons back on the panel control, putting back everything in order.

The water was elevating back in her initial place, totally unreachable now. The night sky was gone, galaxies and stars sealed away from their eyes. Replaced by cold metal and visual silence. Distance. 

 

Either Lance had heard nothing, either…

 

_ He doesn’t care _ .

 

"Okay, let's get you something !" Lance cheered. He looked radiant. As if an impromptu swimming session in the middle of the night had only made him better. He looked fresh and ready. Keith wished he could bite him again and get away with it because Oh Damn ! He looked so annoyingly pretty.

 

Before Keith could drawn a step toward the elevator, Lance dropped his shirt on him, like a damp, wet, soggy towel. Keith shrieked at the sensation, cold and rubbing him in the wrong way.

 

"But  _ before  _ ! Let's take a shower and dry ourselves ! I’d rather not catch a cold too. There’"

 

Two options.

 

Either lightning strikes him right now and he dies, so that he never has to face anything related to this sentence ever again, either Keith shrieked at the top of his lungs because...

 

"WHAT ?"

 

There he goes, option two.

 

"I thought your ears were hypersensitive ? I said  _ showers  _ and then we  _ eat _ . Unless you can't wait and i should walk around the castle almost naked and  _ thus  _ catch a cold,  _ thus  _ ending like you ? Uh-uh, no no no mister I-have-so-little-impulse-control-I-bite-my-teammates !"

 

"I have impulse control ! It's just..."  _ It’s just you told me we’d go showers as if it was nothing and I’m not sure I’m entirely ready for that. _

 

"Oh yeah ? Since when ?" Cutting him off, Lance was already marching to the opposite side of the room, mocking Keith above his shoulders.

 

"I mean, this time it's not me ! This weird...  Thing... happened, almost like I wasn't myself anymore !" Keith gestured around, unsure about how to describe how he lost absolute control over his senses earlier. Nothing similar to anger, because he sure did know how was anger like. 

 

More like a heatwave blew off his system, turning him into a rageful beast for an instant. 

 

"Sure, tell that to my bloody han-uh?!" Lance huffed the end of the sentence. His shoulders had been grabbed backwards and he stumbled on his feet, barely keeping balance as Keith shoved his nose right next to his face. "Huh, Keith?"

 

"Oh fuck. I've really bitten that hard ? Is it still bleeding ?" Keith scrutinized Lance's fingers, searching for crimson pearls and incriminating wounds. Making Lance rather uncomfortable in the process. Shoving him gently, Lance brushed it off like it was no big deal, uneasy about the sudden rush of attention paid to him.

 

"Oka-ay, too close ! Yes, you did, but me and my grand generosity forgive you graciously."

 

"I'm sorry."

 

"'t's fine." Lance shrugged. They'd been fighting battles after battles, a bruise was not the end of the world after all. Unless... "However,” he started off, “As a redeeming task, you'll have to... let's say... be my slave for a night !" Lance exclaimed.

 

"I what now ?" Keith could already feel this discussion was going to be a nightmare. His whole body was still sore from the fall - no matter how cushioned by Lance's body - and the entire pool session, and sleepiness crawled over him. Now he had above all to keep Lance's from inventing god knows what crazy story again.

 

"My slave. I was yours for tonight, I want a payback !" At this point, Keith was pretty sure Lance winked. He could not tell for sure. Vision was becoming a little blurry on the sides. "I could have you dance or sing and record it as best blackmail material. Or better, you'd help me classify those files Allura wanted me to do. Like, how come there isn't a single software that can do that ? Wait, I got a better idea. I give the blackmail to Pidge, and as an payback she builds me the software. Hunk would never agree."

 

Keith rolled his eyes. He regretted immediately afterwards, though, because it made his balance unsteady and he almost tripped in the middle of the pool hall. The distance from one end to another only seemed to grow further with each step he took, but the jabbering of Lance by his side kept him somehow alert.

At this point, it was the only grounding point he had. All the windows were closed back to the grey metal they used to be for ten thousand years, the water was back on the sky-high ceiling and the stadium sized hall, all blank and cool under his barefeet, had his knees weaken a little.

 

"Lance..." Keith called out so weak he feared his whisper would not make it to Lance. His brain did not wait to know and shut down his legs.

 

"I got you buddy." As Keith, once more, tumbled down, Lance slung his arms over his shoulders and placed his own hand on Keith's waist, decided to help him make it to the showers.

 

Keith sighed. He tried to say thanks and failed miserably.

 

"Concentrate on your breathing. Tap a finger if yes, two if no. I start, you ready ?"

One tap on Lance's tan shoulder.

 

"Are you cold ?" Three taps. "I'll take that as a maybe. Still hungry?" Two taps. "Chest heavy or light ? Wait, no. Chest heavy ?" One tap. "Can you see me clearly ?" Two. "Okay. I think you've got hypoglycemia, actually. That's not particularly dangerous and it's unrelated to your strange dots on the back, but i'll need you to not do anything unnecessary, okay? Also we'll drink in the showers and if i remember correctly, there's a screen there and I could try to... Keith ? Keith are you with me ?"

One tap. And another.

 

"Okay. I'll just shut up then."

Keith could feel Lance breathing harshly, his chest lifting up under his arms. Finally, between white dots all over his vision, he noticed the doors. The swift sounds of the automatic opening and closure behind them, Lance left Keith down on the floor.

 

The showers, arranged for crowds of Alteans willing to bath in their awful floating pool, looked like regular camping stalls, if camping was the highest technologic activity ever.

 

"Don't worry, I got you covered ! I figured out every single one of this weird things and they no longer have any secret for me ! They don't call me Paladin of water for no reason!"

 

"No one calls you like that."

 

"Yes they do."

 

"They don't."

 

Lance arched over Keith, slung against the wall like a lifeless doll. His limbs like cotton, he did not even bothered looking back at Lance as he felt his breath over his forehead. His jean glued to his skin. It looked rough. Keith tapped his fingers on the floor tiles.

 

"They do. Huh, Keith ? What are you doing ?"

 

Oh. Seems like his hand had found a way to Lance's ankles. So wet jeans feels like this. Interesting. Task over, fingers back to inanimate state on the floor.

Keith out. 

 

"Okay, weird." Lance snapped his fingers inches away from Keith's nose. No reaction. Maybe he rolled his eyes, but Lance could not tell under the hair. "You look dead, my friend." Lance squat down to reach Keith's eye level and poked his arms. Still nothing. His eyelids were only nanometers away from each other, so basically closed, and he breathed through the mouth.

 

"I can't believe I'm about to do this. I swear, if you wake up, it's not my fault." Lance sighed. At least hypoglycemia had taken Keith away for a while, and he just prayed the boy would not decide to bite his mouth right as he wake up. Or worse.

 

Lance looked down. Legs parted, slightly snoring, totally feverish. Good ol' sick Keith was back, and the pool had only cooled him down for so long. Lance could feel the blush on his cheeks. Why, why, why him, really ? Was it a bonding test ? A team exercise ? If it was, he would kill Allura. Or at least slightly yell at her. If he had the nerves to do so.

Nevermind, complaining endlessly to Hunk seemed way more reasonnable. 

 

Luckily for Lance, Keith did not wore jeans, but leggins, which were slightly less heavy than jean fabric when soaked. Sadly for Lance, leggins  _ glued  _ to skin even more when wet.

 

"Aye, estoy haciendo esto por ti, coño." Lance felt like his sister, whenever he came back dead drunk at home at unholy hours in the morning, crawling to her room for her to help him because  _ Mama no debe saber, Anita _ . She would groan the whole time but he always ended up washed and kissed on both cheeks, tucked into bed and relieved for life. Until next time.

 

He missed Anita.

 

But he also learned a lot from her.

First, remove shirt. Well, since Keith showed up without a shirt in the first place -Lance had furiously fought back any single thoughts about it, and was willing to continue living the night in total denial-, first step was easy. Second step, remove shoes. Okay, nevermind, just skip to step 'remove the pants and shove under warm water'.

Lance slung his head back. He probably covered his face with his hands at some point too. He  _ had  _ to do this. He was a responsible, capable, mature teenage boy ! Keith groaned something in his slumber state.

 

"Quiznack..."  _ You’re not making it easy, angel face.  _

 

Lance thought hard about it. If he  _ just  _ pulled Keith's leggings from the ankles,  _ everything  _ would come with them. So  _ no _ . He could start at knee level but same thing... The rest would come too. Which left no other choice. He had to remover Keith's leggings from the waistband down to the toes.

In this particular situation, that was terrible. He tried not to dwelve on whether or not he really wanted to remove Keith's pants in other situations and just… got to it, dammit, Lance !

 

This had to be a joke. Keith's skin was plastered to the fabric. Totally unremovable. Glued. Stuck in place as true as Keith was drooling. 

 

"Quiznack, quiznack, quiznack!"

 

Lance stuck a finger under the waistband, the other hand covering his face from nose to brows. He pulled a little, then more, then a whole lot and finally, the legging started to pull off.

 

"Okay. Just gotta do the same here now..."

 

After what seemed like several decafeebs -three minutes, in fact- Lance had finally a boxer-dressed Keith.

 

"Okay, Mullet McSickboy. Showers."

 

The first stall was free. Just like the other forty-nine around, for that matter. Lance launched Keith into the shower and just... pushed every single button, activating at least thirty different water jets.

 

He set the temperature a little higher than usual, knowing Keith would probably enjoy some warmth after all, because he's the fire boy type and all that jazz… After a last check of the heat and of Keith's state - Lance was pretty certain he was out, but he mumbled sometimes, so not so certain - Lance exited the stall and removed his own really wet and now totally cold pants. 

 

Somewhere in those forty nine shower stalls must hide some Altean shampoo remainings, and he was going to find them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should post translations of cuban and spanish sayings but tbh, i think you all know either what it means aka 'oh my god' and 'im doing this for you', either you guessed ;) I hope you enjoyed this !! If you ever feel like it, tell me anything about and even hc about what's going to happen i'd love to hear them !!!
> 
> Thank you a lot, for all of you ??? I would never have guessed the coping fic would be my most popular ? Haha, have a nice day/night!!


	8. Phases - or - I don't think you're you but I might be in love anyways.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is still really tired. And Lance is still pining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm kind of sorry i wrote this earlier and should have published sooner! It's still not corrected so if you see any typo or unfinished sentences, just tell me!

Cool air, cold floor.

"It's been at least an hour. Either he fell asleep, either... No, you know what ? I'm not thinking of that." Keith was fidgeting with a strand of hair, sat on the marbled floor of the showers. Somewhere, water was still running, droplets strumming on the tiles, fogging the sounds and smothering the air. A gentle noise.

 

Keith was still a little dizzy, but reminiscing the first -disastrous- shower of the night, he decided he was actually fine. He woke up half an hour ago and estimated he'd been knocked out for something around thirty minutes too.

 

And Lance was still under the shower.

 

Keith shrugged. He could use this time to _think_ , instead of just letting his mind wander wherever it wanted. Mostly in what Keith would label ‘inconvenient places’.

The muffled whisper of the showers numbed his ideas. None of them were interesting enough to be carefully studied, though. Just as the droplets on his hair flowed down to crash into nothingness with the others, his thoughts did too.

 

Lifting a hand to eye level, Keith contemplated the condensation on his nails. One of them was broken, and the others cut short, if not bitten. Only his left pinky had some class. Well, to Keith, being clean and bruise free was already top of the bucket manicure, so…

Condensation turned to drops, themselves turning to trickles of water. The stream followed the curve of the knuckles, digging into the scratches and brushing over the contusions.

Warm hands, hot water.

 

By an unfortunate course of logic, Keith’s mind swam down the concept and soon enough, not only was he cogitating about water, but also about his paladin too.

That means Lance.

_Of course it means Lance. This guy gatecrashes everything ! Well… Look about who’s talking. You’re the one who crashed into his room._

Keith rubbed his thumbnail with his index. After all, it did not ended nearly as bad as he initially thought it would when he collapsed on Lance’s floor. Sure, Lance made him take a dip more times in the space of a night than he did in the last months, but still.

 

_He called you an egoistic asshat, though._

 

That had the ground spin under Keith. This had came so unexpected. Lance was always so… cheerful ? He automatically assumed he would approve. But Lance was just as tired and lonely and sad as him and he just had… Forgotten ? What kind of people does that ? Sure, he was having a rough time but, so was Lance.

 

_Stop beating yourself up over something so stupid. He thinks you don’t care. Do you really want to break down the walls and tell him you do ? And ruin everything ? Again ?_

 

No matter how soaked Keith was, his throat felt dry and his lungs dusty. And, if he admitted it, his heart hollow.

 

_You should have apologized right away. Now’s too late, he’s already added this to the list of reasons why Keith’s an quiznacking asshole. Asshat._

 

How come Lance enjoyed being engulfed in water so much anyways ? He was so natural, so smooth inside the crushing pressure of thousand of atoms of H²O.

Must be hiding something... no one really likes being almost naked in transparent liquid around other, do they ?

 

_Maybe he’s secretly an exibitionnist._

 

Truth was, Lance just really enjoyed the flying sensation that provided the salty water of the ocean, just as much as he liked the smell of iodine on his damp hair after a day at the beach and the vivifying feeling of diving into rivers in the morning. But to Keith, these activities were aliens stuff.

 

Strangely enough, he was not so much tensed up by being surrounded by wet, suffocating air anymore. Thanks, Lance.

He'd never believed he could get so used to the silky touch of water over such a short court of one night.  As much as he knew he needed it to survive, Keith had never really liked it, nor felt comfortable in it.

 

He was much more accustomed to the rough scratches of sandy rocks, to the caress of dry, warm winds. To the violent touch of the sun, the harshness of the desert, the arid taste of dust in his mouth, sand gritting his teeth and fiery breeze ruffling his hair.

 

No, really, Keith was in his element around a made up fire, in the middle of an empty canyon, at night, relying on gasoline and wind to escape. He'd never really felt the need to swim welcoming waters, compared to the urge he had to climb riskily high cliffs or to ride deadly flying machines.

Maybe if he was so harsh and straightforward, and so blunt and so on, it was only because he mirrored the rough, dry land he'd stepped on for more than a long time.

A warm waterfall, falling from a hole in the wall, crashed on his shoulders. Not what he wanted to do, but nice anyways. Keith pressed his forehead on his knees.

 

He missed his shack. He missed the long, overheated starry nights spent alone, looking for nothing and everything in the celestial vault. He longed the trips to the black market, rabbits in hands to barter against gas and oil, and tissues and electric wires. His heart still felt called to the everlasting sunsets of summer, when he came back from missions broken and tired, and his eyes missed the heat of the sky at the dawn of the night.

 

There, lost in space, curled under liquid heat, Keith wished he was back there.

No war, no space princess, no endless void and endless nights. No more bickering, no more incomprehensive jabbering about wormholes and galra technology, no more altean insults, no more wounds and no more battle cries and tears and blood.

 

Silence again and maybe a chug or two of this gross fireball whiskey they sold for half of a coyote.

 

Keith felt relieved he could blame his sickness for the red eyes and hide his tears under the stream. No one shall know.

 

His nail traced uncertain forms on the wall, dusting off the steam. He was there because of so many uncertain events. What if... what if... What if Lance never drove through the wormhole. What if they never uncovered the Blue Lion ? Or even made it back to his shack ? What if he did not managed to get Shiro back or even... What if Shiro never left ?

Where would they be now ?

 

Would he still long for a stinky mattress in a empty desert ? Or would he be the new Garrison golden boy, following Shiro's footsteps? Would have war happened anyways ?

Would he even know he's half alien, an hybrid not meant to be, without any logical birth explanation ?

 

Would he even know what if feels to be connected to five other strangers ? Would he even _know_ these strangers, no longer stranger that being said. Heck, if it wasn't for Shiro, he'd never met Pidge, or Allura. Or Hunk, or Coran. Or Ulaz, or Nyma ! Or...

 _Or Lance. Stop messing around and say it_.

 

Sure, what difference would it be anyways ? He would still have met someone that annoying, that nosy at some point ! There's plenty of other boys like that !

 

_Are you sure of that ?_

 

Would anyone shoot people for him? Would anyone forgive him every time, no matter what, if it meant they could replay all over again the same scene ? Would anyone give up on something they love just to be caring, even for a couple of hours ?

 

_Would any boy be the Lance to his Keith ?_

 

"Oh quiznack." Keith's head dug a little further between his knees, his arms quickly covering up his nape. Quiznack. Fuck. Shit. WhaTEvER. "Don't do this to me Keith. Stop it now." Too busy muttering under his breath, Keith missed the shuffle of a door opening.

 

"You're talking to yourself, now ? That's new. Odd, but not surprising i must admit." Lance. Of course, it had to be, of all moments, the one he chose to get back there. Keith kept his arms sealed above his head, stubbornly hiding his blushing cheeks and teary eyes under his calves.

 

What did he called Lance earlier ? Oh, yeah. Nosy. For once, Keith made a correct assumption about someone, because after dropping all kind of bottles at his feets, Lance decided to squat right next to Keith's legs. He crouched his back just to shoot a look under the dark curtain of Keith's hair.

 

"Hey, what's wrong, sickhead ? You look terrible. Well, terrible-er."

 

"That's not a word, dumbass." Keith groaned.

 

"Don't play Sasuke with me. I know something's wrong when i see it. So, are you gonna tell me ?" Lance used the Soft Voice. Keith knew that, because he heard it a lot this night and it was an entirely new one, far away from the Smug, the Smirking or the Furious Voices. Wait...

Sasuke ?!

 

Keith's head jolted from his hideout and he prepared himself to snap something witty back at Lance.

 

"I'm not !... I. No, I just ? Ah--? It's no... I mean what ?"

 

Something witty.

 

"Sure. Try again." Lance chuckled, totally unaware - was he ? - of the effect of his boxer-briefs-only outfit on Keith. Whom glared away, a little too fast to convince anyone it was by pure prudeness.

 

"Why are you only wearing that !"

 

"What ? You're not more covered ? Did you wanted me to take a shower fully dressed or what ?" Lance raised a brow, dead serious.

 

"Well, it's not like you haven't tried to swim all clothed earlier..." Keith retorted, with the weak voice of the kids who know they've been caught doing something wrong but the adults are not even addressing it. If it had been possible, he'd turn his head even further away but his cervicals were already way too twisted.

 

"Pshh-" Lance waved a hand, dropping onto the floor. "Not the same thing at all ! It was all in the fire of the action back there. Now i take my time." The boy rested his back on one stall of the shower, elbows on his knees and chin loosely fitting in his palms.

 

The waterfall sound filled the suspended silence that set up.

 

Lance played with some shampoo bottles while Keith obstinately refused to speak. His long hair sticky, his chin hidden in between his shoulders, Lance thought he looked cute.

 

Like a rival can be cute. Even with his red eyes and purple freckles and...

 

"Keith what the fuck is that ?"

 

"Mhm ?" Concern tained Lance's voice and Keith forgot about being annoyed. "What are you..." Keith started asking.

He stopped right when he met bright blue eyes as he turned back. If his cervicals sang hallelujah, his ears reddened above appreciable level. Lance was like, nanometers away. Again.

 

_Quiznak, he's got nice eyes this fucker !_

 

"Ah-ahh, I might..." Lance bubbled, hastily backing up.

 

"Yeah-eh, hmm, yeah." Keith backpedaled too. How close can two faces be without touching, exactly ?

 

"Your freckles, they're... They're turning purple too." Lance explained, when a comfortable distance of a dozen of centimeters had grew between him and Keith.

 

"Lance, I never had freckles."

 

"I know ! But now you do ! I mean, maybe you hadn't freckles, how would I know ? But now you... Have..." Lance ruffled the back of his neck, right where the hair ends and it's warming up when you blush suddenly because you've been caught doing something you're not supposed to. Or saying something you're not supposed to know.

At least if you want to keep pretend you're not seriously crushing on this guy there.

 

_Oh boy._

 

"You kn--... Okay, you know what, let's... Let's skip this okay ? Just... Explain to me... Why..." Keith's mind searched a conversation subject so hard Lance could hear the gears tickling. "Why... Why you're so good at... At makeup! Yeah, tell me how the heck do you know so well how to change the frog into the prince charming ?" _Great save Keith. Nice analogy, with your luck he's gonna take it so bad you'll die in a shower stall._

 

"Really ? You wanna know, for real ?" Lance's face lightened up. Or maybe the sun rose, Keith could not quite tell, because of how blinded he was.

 

_Man, you're neck deep into him, that's bad._

 

Lance wasted no time.

"Okay, so. You know, my sister, Anita ? She's my big sister, I'm the last kid in the family. Well, when she was around five, she started ballet dancing, and never really stopped. She kept picking up on dances and so, we ended up going to, i don't know, a good twenty different end-of-the-year dance-off shows." He chirped up, words tumbling out like bubbles of happiness.

 

Lance looked at his feet, his smile melting from a light beam to a fond, genuine expression, the kind you wish were addressed to you. His head nodded while he talked, as his chin rested on his hands. Keith's shoulders dropped. He left out a sigh and wiggled a bit, getting comfortable to listen to what promised to be a _story_.

 

"So each year, someone had to do her makeup and hairdress and even find some costumes, you know ? She's eleven at the time i'm eight and she always asked me for advices ! When she grew up, Mama stopped doing her hair and it was Rosie and me at it ! Rose is like, our second mom, like, Shiro but a cool, fashion Shiro, you know ?"

 

Keith grinned. He had to admit, as long as he could remember, Shiro's tastes in fashion had always been... Questionable. Notably this green shirt he wore the first date he...

 

"So Rosie and I would do all the god's work on her face and everything. She was Always the prettiest. Oh, you should have seen, fifteen years old Anita moving like an angel as a swan princess ! Best day ever... Anyways, so at some point, Rosie was too busy with the hair because Anita decided to keep it long, and it would take, like, forever ? I'm not teaching you anything, hair takes forever."

 

"Lance have you ever called my hair anything else than a 'greasy pile' or an 'outdated mullet' ?"

 

"No ?"

 

"Then what do you want me to know about hair ?!" Keith chuckled.

 

"Well, I figured since you're totally incapable of taking care of it, you'd knew it was hard to do so ?!" Lance bit his lip, a smug grin replacing the affectionate one. Keith faked a shocked expression before nodding for him to continue, a little worn out by the changing of expression.

 

"So, there I am, thirteen and glorious. And I'm all alone in charge of the main dancer of the company. You have no idea of the weight i bear on my shoulders- stop laughing !- at this time it was a lot for me. I could _not_ screw up. So, every saturday, I would dress up Anita, or Rosie or anyone willing to, and do their make up, as a training."

 

Lance closed his eyes.

 

"It was fun. Mama would bake something while i painted their faces. I have to admit my debuts were pretty bad, but thanks to internet i caught up really quickly ? Never forget to smudge everything down the neckline, Keith."

 

Lance glared at Keith, only opening one eye for the dramatic effect.

 

"Won't forget."

 

"Then it... I don't know, it rolled down from there. Little by little, I got in charge of the make up, then the hair and then basically every single beauty task was my job. I never complained, every gem needs its polisher to shine. But, yeah, I guess I keep doing it because... I think, when I left for the garrison, it felt empty inside ? Keeping routines up brings back good memories, and I need a positive thought every morning."

 

Like a river dried down, Lance gradually spoke slower, before ending on a sappy note. Keith slowly nodded. Lance's tone had shifted and, since Keith had never heard this one that much, he considered valuable the gift of the confidence.

 

"I can do butterflies with face paint too." Lance noted, putting his happy mask back on. Of course he would. "But enough with me ! I have a question too !"

 

Keith shuffled.

 

"If... I mean I thought we were doing this personal talk stuff and..." Lance tripped on the words.

 

"It's fine. What do you want to know ?" Keith blew away uncertainty in his voice as the wind used to blow dust on his shack. Harshly, quickly, and not for long before it came back.

 

"Mh... Do you..." Lance glanced away. It lasted a fraction of second, but he did. Keith blessed his sharpened senses. Not that he was staring, but you have to read your opponent's body language ! Even if Lance's not an opp-

 

"Hmm… Do you know how to play an instrument !?"

 

"Are you sure you wanted to ask me _that_ ?" Keith furrowed his eyebrows, intrigued. Something had scared Lance off, he was one hundred percent sure. And he wanted to know _what_. He stocked the question back in the corner of his mind along with the thousands of others.

 

Lance's fingers played with the sealer of a bottle, popping and shutting it absent-mindedly. Pop. Pop.

 

"Mhm ? Of course !"

 

"I don't buy it."

 

"Well, you'll have to."

 

Keith slung his head back. His adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.

 

"No, you know what, forget it I..."

 

"Harmonica." Keith cut Lance off. He didn't seem particularly pleased, but answered anyways, and that only told long about how their relationship had… evolved. Lance sheepishly listened. "I used to play a lot. Lonely cowboy style, i guess? I like the sound. It's... Melancholic, a little. And soothing."

 

Keith gazed at Lance under his lashes, eyelids still not completely open. Half because of the water that still streamed down from above, half because he did not felt like bearing the weight of fully looking at him while opening up.

 

"I... It was a gift. I was pretty bad for a month, but then... Screw that, I was terrible for a couple of months. I got it right at last."

 

"Where is it now ?" Lance asked, genuinely concerned. Some music would be nice to have around.

 

"I... I think i lost it while flying to get Shiro. Or maybe I forgot it at the shack. We left together for Blue, and I didn't thought... I didn't..." Keith's voice cracked. "I thought we would come back ? I thought everything would stay the same, only Shiro would drop by sometimes. But I was so afraid ? Once i found him, I... I didn't have a purpose anymore ? He was back, and I was so happy but..."

 

Lance stopped popping the lid open. Even the waterfall couldn't hide Keith's tears now.

 

"When I led you to the Blue lion, I thought we wouldn't find anything. I thought we would explore some caverns and make bad jokes and like, maybe promise to see each other again and stop there. And everything would be back to before... To before Shiro..."

 

 _To before Shiro's vanishing_.

 

"I was so hurt ? I felt so bad for being so selfish, but while Shiro was gone... I had... something to do ! It was hard and lonely but I had a goal and something to long for ? When... When... This night, when Shiro crashed, I was so excited because I thought this was the beginning of something, not the END !"

 

Keith struggled to make coherent sentences. Words and feelings, and memories and tears all mixed up in a warm soup he left leak down his cheeks.

 

"I just... I felt so alone for so long. But it was... It was home, in a way. I was on my land, I had my hangouts and my spots ! Now... Now... Shiro's here but... He's not really there either. I don't know any of the planets we land on. I throw myself everyday in deadly situations without even knowing if I'll ever come back there--"

 

Lance's hand brushed Keith's knees, warm and quiet. Attentive, too.

 

"I feel so bad because, what if I want all of this to stop ? I feel empty sometimes, here, I don't want to play anymore, I thought I had reached the end of the game that night. I don't... Sometimes I don't care if we win or not ! There'll always be some asshole at the other corner of this universe who'll need Voltron or whatever, you see ?"

 

Keith's nails scraped his head, his fingers tangling up in his hair as if they wanted to dug in his brain. Even breathing itched.

On his knees, the warm fingers became the only source of warmth.

 

_Focus._

_Calm down._

 

"I'm not sure if I want to make it out of this, Lance. What will it be when we get back ? I won't just be able to go back... Not after all of this. Not after what's to come." Keith's sentence ended on a whisper. His arms were trembling under his head. "I thought it would be thrilling and fun. But turns out it's just dangerous, and exhausting. And scary. I just... I just want to go back to before."

 

Keith buried his face in his knees again, his hands covering the sides of his head, pressing the ears and the temples so hard they would have imploded if possible.

 

Lance's nails barely touched his forehead as the boy leaned inches down. The touch grounded Keith. He needed it to.

 

"Before having your beloved almost-brother back ? Before being the adored savior of billions of innocents ? Heck, Keith, do you really want to go back to when you didn't know Red ? To when you didn't know Pidge ? To when you didn't know _me_?" Lance's voice missed a key.

 

His hand moved alone. From Keith's knees, it moved to his hair and soon his hand too. Pale, bruised knuckles Lance held tight between his own tan, scratched ones.

He would not let it go for the entire universe handed to him.

 

"Listen, I don't want to be here neither. But... But I'm glad you're here with me, at least. And, no matter how this happens, know that... I was glad it was with you it happened."

 

Keith's hand sneak up, lacing his fingers with Lance's. An ugly sob escaped his throat, and, just as dams break against floods, Keith's heart broke and let all the tears it held pour down.

 

"I just- I just... I was..."

 

"Shh-- it's okay, Red, it's okay. I'm the water Paladin, i can handle some crocodile's tears."

 

Keith reminded Lance of this children beat up for feeling anything, who grew up keeping everything inside, bottling up emotions after emotions, all the stuff they should have told someone. Maybe because, in a way, it was the case. Keith leaned in Lance's hand, holding it tight next to his head.

 

"We're still _niños*_ inside, aren't we?" Lance decided that if Keith never had the needed comfort and attention, he would provide it. Here and now. He had plenty during his childhood and learned well how from his mother how to hug someone who doesn't want to let go.

 

Looking at their hands, Keith desperately wanted not to let go.

 

 _Primero_ , make them cozy. Careful about not letting Keith's hand move, Lance turned down the water streams, which he should have done a while ago. Reaching behind the stall’s door, he snatched a couple of thousands years old towels and tossed them on the floor, and on his lap.

 

 _Segundo_ , ask for permission. Well, his Mama never asked, but this is Keith so... Might as well check. Wanna come here ? _Nah, too familiar..._ Hey, buddy... _Meh..._ Wanna hug it out ? _Or maybe..._

 

While Lance was hesitating between dozens of similar phrasing for what boiled down to 'pat pat let's cuddle', Keith leaned further on his hand, to the point he almost fell. Lance shook his head and, slowly, opened his fingers. Keith reluctantly let go and curled up his fists.

 

Under his knees and behind his back, Lance had crooked his arms, and slowly, gently, moved him from the wall to his laps, dropping him there and immediately taking his hands back. Keith's tears now streamed down his cheeks to crash on Lance's chest.

 

“And I said I wouldn’t cry” Keith whispered.

 

The steam of the stall, the tears, and the hair blurred Keith's vision. He closed the eyes and snuggled further into Lance's embrace. To tomorrow the remorse, he craved the affection.

 

"But there we go, buddy. Let it all out." A hand clutching Keith's, another rubbing his purple-constellated back, Lance smiled. "It's fine, I'm here."

 

Sometimes, Keith's hiccups would shudder his entire body. Sometimes, he left out long sighs, mumbled and cried again. Then Lance would brush his hair, lace his fingers with the soft strands, distantly gazing off.

Every now and then, though, he would stop and huff, and catch his breath as if he was about to confess something. But he never spoke, and Lance kept waiting for him to calm down. And, as the sun sets, Keith fell asleep.

Silently, surely. Beautifully.

 

Lance peeped at the jet black eyelashes, way too long to be human. Tears pearled at the roots, like dew on dark petunias. Velvet hair, and soft cheeks. Back in his room, what felt months ago, Lance could only distinguish vaguely the shape of Keith.

 

In the crude, white light of the showers, all the angles, all the curves and all the muscles, and all the bruises and the scars, and all of _Keith_ gleamed. Maybe it was the sweat, maybe it was the pale skin. Maybe it's the filter that goes down on your eyes when you adore someone so much you'd sacrifice anything, just to make sure they're safe in your arms in the end.

Lance repressed the urge to smooch the nose, the forehead, the wrists. Keith was sleeping. And he was so adorable ? Drooling, dried tears on his cheeks. Warm and fuzzy like a kitten. Snoring a little... Purring ?

 

Lance squint. Keith was definitely purring, he would have sworn it.

 

How much of a cat this kid could be ?

 

"Wait... Does this means..."

 

Pushing away some dark locks, Lance snuck a finger under Keith's ear. The skin was soft, and he cautiously grazed it.

Keith wrinkled his nose, but did not move. Lance tried again. _There_. Keith purred !

 

"Feeling comfy, kitty ?" Lance chuckled for himself. On his lap, the biggest cat ever sent to space was peacefully sleeping. Well, maybe not the biggest, alien monsters tend to keep surprises all the time for the paladins, but still. A big, feverish, adorable kitty.

 

Also he was only wearing his boxers but, hrmm, let's put that on the 'think-about-it-tomorrow' list.

 

Feeling in luck tonight, Lance decided to be cheeky. A hand still holding Keith's, he moved his other right under the boy's chin. As tensed as if he was deactivating a nuclear bomb, Lance poked, grazed and finally brushed the sensitive skin.

 

If his alien biology bo-... If Pidge's alien biology book was right, most felines-related forms of lives were supposed to share similar traits. Sharp claws, infuriating speed, dangerous accuracy, blinding senses and abilities. Lean muscles, inner strength, hidden ressources. High improvisation tendencies and odd affectionate links. Deadly fighting skills.

 

And, most importantly, ticklish and purring spots. Behind the ear, all on the sides. And, currently confirmed by the Blue Scientist of Voltron, under the chin.

Keith was buzzing.

 

If Lance had read Pidge's book a little further, he would have known that overstimulating sensitive spots of alien cats can lead two ways : death or friendship. Death is resulting in more than seventy per-cent of the visually witnessed cases. This number grows even more in case of sudden wake of the feline. If awaken by a friend, the cat may, however, pursue the enjoyment of being snuzzled, while remaining totally still.

 

This often leads to the following confusion in the case of a half-species subject and a friend-shaped subject :

 

"Keith... You're... You're awake ?" Lance blurted. He swore he had seen Keith's eyes flicker open.

 

"Mhh... Yes ? But I was not sleeping ?"

 

"What."

 

Keith yawned, releasing both his sleepiness and Lance's hand away. Latching on the boy even more, Keith pouted.

 

"What, 'what' ?"

 

"You... I thought you were ?"

 

"Yeah, I think I get it. Why does it matter anyways ?" Keith mumbled in Lance's collarbone.

 

_What the heck is happening to him. One second he hisses if I even look at him, the next he drools on me and purrs on my laps. What. The. Space. Flying. Fresh. Quiznack._

 

"Hum, it matters, to me, because I was talking to myself, and stroking your back, and your hair, and your chin and you said NOTHING ?!"

 

"It was nice, thanks." Keith's head was heavy on Lance. "Could you stop shaking now ?"

 

"I'm not shaking, Keith, you're just still fucking sick." Lance sighed and pushed him away. He had nothing against a little proximity, but this guy was not really... Keith.

So it did not count.

 

"You're going to catch a cold in this... clothes. We need to find something to wear, something warm." Lance mentally made a list of where could he find something covering enough of Keith he would not freeze to death. And also stop being... Like this.

 

If feverish Keith made Lance's hands clammy, and star-eyed Keith poured butterflies into his stomach, and if teary Keith pinned needles into his heart, Kitty-Keith just downright repulsed him. This Keith was clingy and, Lance had to admit, a little... off.

Did his brain fried with the heat or what ?

 

Lance was pinching the bridge of his nose at the thought while he and not-really-Keith were strolling down the corridors of the castle for another time again. Only this time they ran almost naked and, if Lance was not carrying Keith in his arms or helping him limp somewhere, the boy was still latching onto him.

 

"You're so... So warm, Lancey Lance !"

 

"Stop calling me like that. You're so fucking hot your brain melt, you don't know what you're saying."

 

This seemed to stop Keith. Or at least, that's what Lance hoped it had done when he noticed silence fall upon this castle's wing.

How can you seriously consider you're in luck when all kind of zippy stuff has happened to you all night long ?

 

"You think I'm hot ?" Keith bubbled. He sounded drunk.

 

_Drunk people forget what they're told, right ?_

 

"Yeah, let’s say I do."

 

_This is risqué._

 

"Oh-oh. Lancey Lance thinks I'm hot."

 

_I live for the thrill of the adrenaline. I'm made of risqué._

 

"That's what I said."

 

_Nothing scares me._

 

"I think you're damn hot too."

 

Lance tripped on his own feet as he snorted and scoffed, breathing heavy. His saliva missed and he choked on air. Next he knew, the world spinned upside down as he fell and, maybe, he thought he was not that much made of _risqué_.

 

"Arfh- Damn ! What the..."

 

"Shhh-- calm down. I'm Keith, and you're right here in my arms."

 

That part was true. Lance, startled like a teen boy who's crush just blurted out he looked hot - oh, well - tripped and tumbled down, only for Keith's reflexes to save him from diving head-first on the ground.

 

"That's... That's MY line ? It's copyrighted material !" Lance tried to regain composure by being mean. Fight the fire by the fire, they say.

 

"Works best with me then." Keith grinned. Smug.

 

Speaking of fire, Lance's entire body might have been set on. Keith being broody and gross was fine, because it counter-effected the fact that even his greasy hair and terrible skin could not hide his cuteness.

 

But. If Keith, instead of being a distant jerk, decided to... Flirt ?

 

_Ay por dios, es así que murio._

 

"WELL." Lance flung away from Keith. Tried to. "IF YOU DON'T MIND, I THINK I'LL WOH-AT THE HECK KEITH!?"

 

"I'm dippin' you because I'm holdin' you" Keith retorted. He came up with this terrible line by himself.

 

"LOWER ME AGAIN AND I SCRE-AAH! JEEZ! KEITH!" Lance screeched, inflicting major damages to both his and Keith's audition. But heh, he was falling !?

 

Twice, Keith had let go and caught back Lance, leaving him furiously blushing and inches away from the cold ground. The third time Keith let go off Lance, the boy ended on his ass on the floor. At terrifying fall of three centimeters high, but still.

 

Meters ahead, Keith was walking away. Lance hid his face in his hand for seconds, waiting for his brain to reset, his limbs to stop feeling like jelly and the entire bee nest in is stomach - butterflies ? He skipped this step as soon as he snorted - to evaporate.

 

Lance ? 0. Keith ? 0. The smug love demon who possessed Mullet-boy for the last minutes ? 100.

 

Ignoring the mumbo-jumbo of his heart and the sparkle-tingle on his tongue, Lance propelled himself back on his feet. He ran out to Keith, gripping his shoulder as soon as his arms lenght allowed him to.

 

"Wh- WHAT WAS THAT ?" Lance shouted. Be quick or be slit.

 

"I saved your pretty ass ?" Keith's flirty interior secret demon ? One thousand points.

 

"YoU DROPPED ME !"

 

"Oh, but you know I would never let you down, _Lance_."

 

You know these moments you reflect later on about ? Thinking about what you should have said ? Well, later, Lance would wish he would have stuck to quoting a meme and stop there.

 

But the ball was on his side, game on. Set !

 

"You've woken me up ? You almost fainted in my arms ? You're literally impeaching me from sleeping !"

 

First shot, Lance goes for the win ! Blue team in attack !

 

"Trust me, I know better ways to keep you up all night."

 

Nooo, Keith catches back and bounces, equality ! The Reds sure are in olympic shape tonight!

 

"Like what, crying in the shower ?!"

 

All odds against him, Lance tries to reset the scores ! Team Blue never gives up and uses a snarky attack !

 

"Maybe, I mean, I loooove seeing you all wet..."

 

The Reds steal the ball away from the Blues ! Keith goes to the net ! But wait, he's not stopping there !

 

"Baby Blue."

 

DUNK ! Set and match ! K-O ! Victory for Keith, Lance defeated ! 10 000 points to zero, Team Blue is buried six feet under and still diggin' ! END OF THE GAAAME-

 

Probably conscious, in his parallel state, of the possibilities given to him, Keith seized his chances and winked at Lance. No fake sports-commentary would ever describe the mess Lance managed to physically turn into.

 

But you can't have bad luck all night long, can you ? Just like how waves washes of written messages on the sand, the fever washed Keith away, shutting him off again. If there ever was someone Lance could tell what he just heard, he probably would be admitted to a space hospital.

 

From a tired, smug mess, Keith went back to his usual, tired, achy mess of the night. Maybe he recalled vaguely the thread, but the spikes in his brain bottled the thought and threw the bottle in the ocean.

 

"Ouch... I'm sorry Lance, I... Can we just... Go on ?" Holding his head, Keith glanced at Lance, who was panting discreetly on the right. Whatever had just happened, both of them were emotionally invested.

 

"Sure. You're not going to... Say anything else ?"

 

"Lance, I'm having blackouts here and there since this all started, i don't even recall what I just said. Last thing in my mind, you were standing in the showers and we had to fetch clothes !"

 

"You gotta be kidding me."

 

"I'm not ! Now for the love of everything good in this world can we just move on ? I’m freezing here." It was more of an order than a real question, but since it saved Lance from explaining how Keith just basically talked him dirty, he took the hand and shut up.

 

For the moment.

 

The roallercoaster- Screw that. The free fall from an orbital station that was going through flirty Keith to sick Keith had left Lance morally exhausted.

 

"Once we found something to wear, you'll just have to re-tell everything to me." Keith huffed. "You're good at telling stories."

 

A freefall from space and Lance had no parachute.

 

"Yeah, no problem... But before that... I bet I can find some silky robes before you do !" Lance smirked. Back in business, baby ! Clothes were his domains. Keith had hoverbikes, knives and weird hair. Lance had fashion. Among other things, of course. Keith only had these three.

 

Okay maybe he had more, but let's not forget how easy it is to pinpoint a character to three basics traits, shall we ?

 

"Maybe you can. You're good at that too."

 

Keith willingly just admitted Lance was good. Call it a day, Lance had fireworks in the knees and jello in the heart. Or the contrary. He was not that sure, and to be honest, it downed to the same thing.

 

"Also, if you know about toilets around here..." Keith muttered.

 

"What, can't hold it ?"

 

Lance grinned. Keith, not.

 

"If you don't shut the fuck up i throw up on your knees."

 

Keith darted his gaze at Lance, purple irises made ring around dilated pupils and very red eyes overall. After crying, swimming, choking and all kind of eyes soaring kind of stuff, no wonder they looked assorted to his lion.

 

Lance took a step back. If Kitty-Keith, who turned to be Flirty-Demoniac-Keith looked hot smoking, let's put it on the inattentive mess Lance was, Sick-Keith looked even worse than Previous-Sick-Keith.

 

The purple dots, freckles and markings did not even needed specific places to be placed, they just laid everywhere on Keith's death-pale skin. The contrast made him look sickeningly greyish where the mauve plague had not reached.

 

The shower and the pool had washed him away, and his hair still looked puffy and sticky. His lips were chapped from the biting, swollen and red. Looking at the fangs that pierced them, the blood pearls Lance spotted at the corner of Keith's mouth could as much come from bites inside.

 

Now that Lance scrutated further, he noted details the last examination of Keith had not printed into his retina. His dangerously long nails, that used to be amusing claws but now felt more like daggers scratching the purple skin. The fuzziness of special places, shoulders or ears, that Lance was pretty damn sure were not that hairy before.

The insisting tendency of Keith to stand on his toes. His arched back, making his shoulder blades stick out. The way he walked, not his usual chin-first feet-second demarch, but a limpy, hazily way.

 

"Lance. I swear. I really feel..." Keith palm jumped to his mouth, shutting it sealed. His free arm swayed around his stomach, pressing it so hard the nails traced fire lines on his side.

 

Lance shook his head. Whatever alien stuff that was, it was bad.

 

"How much longer until I need to break a promise." Lance thought. If Keith persisted, gradually turning into a... A what ? Anyways. Lance could save him only for so long, but a messed up Paladin is a quick catch for whoever has eyes.

 

His hand waved at speedlight in front of a door. A bedroom. Will do.

 

Kicking their way into the bathroom, Lance led Keith above the Altean toilet seat. Keith dropped on his knees and gripped his sides.

 

At least Lance hold his hair out of the way.

 

The acid taste in his mouth made him shudder afterwards. Lance handed him a cup already filled. Keith emptied it in one gulp, dehydrated more than disgusted by the feeling on his tongue.

 

"Another"

 

"Be careful with that, okay ?"

 

Keith poured three shots of fresh water down his throat before stopping for scoffing. The air was dry and he wanted to cry. He felt like a dumb high school kid at a garrison party, who insisted to do a keg stand and puked three seconds later. Chances are he just reminisced.

 

Maybe he blacked out, because he opened eyes he did not remember closing.

 

In the meantime, Lance, god knows how, had found again another set of thousand years old shampoo-towels. And a brush. That's new.

He held them at eye level, smiling. Not grinning, not really, but smiling like he was about to proceed to the nicest prank he ever did. That was... Half-reassuring.

 

"Okay, kitty. Above than looking like it, you smell like a rotten corpse. I'm not letting it pass." Lance was making good use of the Soft Voice again. Keith's deaf stomach-ache faded.

 

Lance squat down to Keith. Legs sprawled, knees bruised from his lack of concern for them, he looked like a dirty munched-up sock-puppet. Gross and sad. His nails had left trails of blood on his sides and even though he said nothing, Lance knew how small cuts can hurt if not taken care of properly.

 

"You insult me ?"

 

"Oh, come on Keith. It's a chance of not getting hit back right away i'm willing to take, and a sacrifice of dignity you're willing to endure, for the sake of our friendship !"

 

_Friendship._

 

"Wait until I hit the training deck again. I'll wreck your ass." Keith tried to sound offending, but for some reason, Lance brushed it off. Since when did Lance brushed off a perfectly well worded sentence including the word ass ? The universe definitely was going mad tonight.

 

Strangely enough, this Altean room looked alike theirs, but not in all ways. Keith supposed it was because they changed aisles, but did not complained.

 

"I love, love bathtubs." Lance closed his eyes and pressed his lips while he descended in the warm waters.

Keith joined him right after. After the pool and the showers, the bathtub. He was getting enough water for millennia to come.

 

Lance, on the other hand, was on a higher plane of existence. After the pool and the showers, the bathtub. He was getting enough water to balance for the worst of the last months. More than that. He was doing it with Keith, of all people!

Sure, having fun in the pool with Allura would have been nice, cuddling under waterfall is just one of the best hangouts he has with Hunk, and he loves running for hours on hunts for pokemon looking aliens with Pidge.

 

But right now he's intertwined his legs with Keith's in a hot tub and the lights are all extinct except for the emergency ones. It's really special and he likes it a lot. This can sound as dumb as it sounds, it's the truth.

 

He likes being with Keith. He likes seeing him, no matter how wrecked or angry or flirtatious. He's grown fond of his messy hair and ever-bruised skin, his bad mouth and his gross habits. He's been shaped to think that only pretty blonde tall girls were attractive, but decided that stinky teenagers insulting robots after hours of training were attractive too. He's been told that intelligent, high-society discussions were the goal. But he personally finds that discussing on no ends hogwarts houses, betting who can do what stupid thing the fastest and which flower smells the worst is just as much of a goal.

 

Now the thing is, the kid Lance's oddly affectionate for, fond of and devoted to, this hothead of a messy stinky fuss, this fierce warrior and brave dumbass, this Keith he likes so much... Thinks Lance is the best friend he could have.

 

Well, that's what Lance thinks Keith thinks of him at least.

 

Let me explain. Keith might despise humidity and be repulsed to water in a cat-like manner, he'd dive a thousand times in ocean that were Lance's eyes. And no matter how lame his music taste were, Keith was still on a highway to Lance's hell. And he's jump in front of things for him. And he would do a ton of bets and run a thousand miles for Lance.

 

And still. This tan, pampered noodle, no matter what Keith would do for him, refers to him as a friend.

 

Well, that's what Keith heard Lance say at least.

 

Both of them, stuck in their dumbstruck state of lovesick thoughts. Foolish boys.

 

The vapor whirled around them in the dark.

 

"Keith ?"

 

"Mhh-h?"

 

Lance had broken the mindful silence, unable to take it. Not that he was desperate to hear Keith again, but the void had grew on him, and the darkness, empty of chatter, began to oppress him weirdly.

 

“About what happened earlier, I…”

 

“Lance, you'll need to be a little more precise here.”

 

Lance glared a Keith.

 

“We've only been to the pool ?”

“Yeah, and like, your room, half of the hallways, the shower stalls and if I wasn't pretty sure you were talking about tonight, i would add like, half the universe, so…”

 

“Okay ! Okay ! Jeez, I get it.”

 

Lance stretched his legs. Small waves jumped up to Keith’s knees, right under his chin.

 

“I… You… I’m sorry.”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow. Cocky Mister I-Know-Better, apologising ?

 

“For back at the pool. I kind of… I blew off on you. Unfair move…”

 

“Yeah you did, jackass.”

 

“You started it !”

 

Keith’s jaw hit his knees when he fired back at Lance. He dropped his legs in the tub and shrugged. Lance smirked at his agape mouth and offended look. Seems like he was taking it seriously.

 

“Uh, NO ?”

 

Lance pouted.

_Oh really Lance ? You want war, prepare for it._

Keith’s hands jerked from under the surface to burst at Lance’s face, splashing Kanagawa’s wave on his figure.

 

“You little jerk !” Lance launched his own hands towards Keith, playful but still ready to fight for this battle. In a bathtub or in space, victory is the key ! “And, yes ! You absolutely did it on purpose !” Lance wrestled against Keith over the water, protecting his face from the sneaky splashing attack.

 

“Did not ! I was opening my heart to you !” Keith twisted Lance’s wrist and locked their knees together. “You basically told me to quiznack off !”

 

“Ouch! Yeah, I guess I kinda did…” Lance stopped wrangling, his limbs giving up the fight before his mind.

 

“You totally did.” Keith would have crossed his arms, if they were not tangled up with Lance’s.

 

Upside-down after twisting on the slippery bottom of the tub, soaked wet and huffy, Lance observed Keith from under his usual level. From there, he looked… Younger ? And also even more of a dork, with all kind of knots in his hair and his red cheeks.

 

“I’m… I’m sorry. I just… I felt like I just wasn’t special anymore ? I mean… I felt like tonight was only the two of us and…”

 

“Guess I brought up the others too soon.”

 

In the almost-dark of the room, Lance had trouble reading Keith. Maybe he was sad. Maybe smirking. Or just dreamy.

 

“We made promises and stuff, and it’s been very… I don’t know. It’s been feeling special, and I guess I wanted it all. Maybe I’m not as generous and full of light as I like to believe I am. I’m sorry for all I said. You basically told me we were family and I got jealous… I shouldn’t have.”

 

“Is that an apology I hear ?”

 

“Don’t make it worse, Nest-Head!”

 

Keith really tried to look smug and witty, but Lance there, sheepishly saying sorry ? It hit him right where it needed to. The self conscious feeling that creeped over him since then was finally backing away.

 

Not leaving, sure. But still. Lance admitted it was not true.

 

_He also said it was special…_

 

Keith retrieved back on his side of the tub, letting Lance and his interminable legs spread in the waters. He ran a hand through the thick, half-greasy half-wet wig over his skull. Point for Lance, it was gross.

 

“Not like i care as much as you about it, though.”

 

"Can I wash it, then ?"

 

It's a thing he used to do a whole lot, for his nephews and nieces. Summer showers, and do their hair. Keith could always refuse, but he would enjoy to take time for the simple moments again.

 

"Sure." Keith breathed. He looked at Lance, or what was visible of him in the almost pitch black darkness. It was nice to be offered help. Since the beginning of this hell of a night, Keith had always been demanding, but Lance showed no signs of resent. Keith silently thanked the universe for that.

 

And it was a genuine, simple demand. They mutually had decided the whole pool-showers dramas were over for now.

 

"Okay, turn around, show me your best mullet !"

 

Keith rested his back on Lance's shins, curling up into a seated ball, his arms around his legs. When Lance brushed the first strand, it trickled down his neck. By the time all and every hair was free of knots, several Hey! and Sorry! had been exchanged.

 

Finally, Lance ran a hand through the length of Keith's locks.

 

"Time for shampoo ! Close your eyes."

 

Keith executed. Sometimes, following simple orders was grounding. It kept chaos at bay for so long, but in the meantime, being taken care of was nice. And his hair definitely needed a refreshment.

 

Lance grazed Keith's scalp lightly, careful just as much as how he would be with his niece. Once Keith looked like a real life version of Inuyasha, kimono not included, he decided it was time to rinse. Keith's hair crissed under the water.

 

"Look time no clean like this."

 

"They're so dense, no wonder why. Why don't you do it more often ? You like it so much when they're fresh and free."

 

"I never feel like it. Like, if I clean them, they'll get dirty right after, so why bother, you know ?" Keith spinned on his hips, turning back in the thub to face Lance again.

 

"Sure, but it's the same for all of us, and still, we shower !" Lance pointed out.

 

Keith nodded, unsure of what Lance was wanting him to say, nor what he himself wanted to tell Lance anyways.

 

"Come to me when you want to. I like taking care of people, of hair, and of you and of your hair. I mean..." Lance began to gesture around. Keith gazed down, biting his lip.

 

"It's okay. I get it. I'm your friend." Keith murmured.

 

 _Friend_.

 

"Yeah, my... My friend." Lance's heart clenched. The next second, his legs were sprawled over the tub's border, and he was outside.

From the bath, Keith observed him, unashamedly. He went over this. Spending the last hours stripping down gradually and taking bath with someone tend to blur the 'innapropriate' limit.

And Lance's body was not inappropriate, after all. It was just a body.

 

Keith's eyes followed the curves of the hips cut-out on the dark walls, passed by visible ribs, brushed over wet hair. He may have gazed longer at the eyelashes. The bump of the nose too. The pursing of the lips and the fainted light on the cheeks. The sparkle in the eyes, merely visible.

 

Lance caught a glimpse of his look when he turned back to Keith.

 

"Hey Keith. Wanna dry yourself ?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoyed this, if you feel like it don't hesitate to leave me some feedback ! I'm sorry for the second hand embarassment tho haha! Also, next chapter shouldn't take just as much long! 
> 
> Thank you all for your kind messages!


	9. Truth or Dare ? - or - Let's dress up and play !

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance knows stuff and Keith does stuff, none of them realize they're dumbstruck in love and alteans have cute items.

"You're telling me you couldn't see shit back there?"

 

Keith, a towel on his head, was sat on the bed. Lance had his back rested on one side of it, preferring the fuzzy carpet to the mattress.

They had been sitting here for a few minutes now, quietly chatting. Keith’s hair felt smooth under his fingers, all knots untied and an unusual freshness scattered between the strands.

 

Even though the whole evening had been weird for him, Keith only realized now how weird,  _weird_ it was. Half of the past hours were total blackouts, dizziness or swaying sensations. Even the pool descent, quite a fun moment, had its colors washed out, as if Keith’s senses took over the memory and he barely recorded any of the too many feelings.

 

But the worst was, he did not care that much. At this point, his head floated a little above the clouds and his skin only itched a little. Daggers stopped stabbing his stomach. Even his ears felt better, but maybe it was only because Lance remained cautious about them and only whispered.

 

Overall, Keith judged the situation as : Not Bad. Sure, he hurt. But it could have been worse… Reminiscing the beginning of the night, and the journey to Lance room… Nausea piped when he only brushed the memories.

 

"Nah, it was too dark?" Holding what seemed to be a large pen to his eye, Lance eyeballed the holes pierced on the length of it. Maybe not a pen then. More of a flute.

 

“I don’t feel like it, though…” Keith barely murmured for himself. He crossed yet another line on his Weird Behavior list.

 

"Wait, you could actually see something in the bathroom?" Lance, still fidgeting with the pen-flute, seemed genuinely interested. His head tilted towards Keith a little, and he could see the concentration scrunching up his nose.

 

Keith poked a furry patch on his shoulder, right on top of another stain of purple on his skin. This was getting freakier by the minute now "Yeah? I mean, I think. I could see you relatively distinctly. Your eyes and… Stuff." He stroked the patch. Fuzzy.

 

On the carpet, Lance brows arched a bit.

 _Maybe if_...

Lance blew in one of the holes. The flute-pen-whatever emitted twittering twangy sound. It reminded Lance of a kazoo, once again one of his long-lost treasures back on earth.

 

"Cool. You're like a human nocturnal binoculars equivalent." Lance blew again, getting some notes out of the kazoo.

 

Keith ruffled his hair. "Mmh... Not sure I would say it like that, but..." Reaching over the edge of the bed, he patted on Lance's shoulder. "Here, give it to me. You're terrible at this."

 

The space kazoo flew from Lance’s fingers directly into Keith’s.

 

In the bedroom, everything was calm, and warmer. The world was coated in a peach light, edges smoother and walls softer. Keith felt relieved they finally got dry, after all this time running around soggy.

They made a deal about that too. Running around. No more. Lance was tired and sleepy, but willing to fight off slumber for Keith if they stopped somewhere nice. Keith was dying a little inside, and made no complains.

 

Surprisingly enough, Lance had a more than decent database of knowledge on altean furniture and architecture. Seemed like the princess had her paladins in low quality rooms, because this one, despite being based on the same model as Keith's and Lance's bedrooms, was infinitely cozier.

 

First, the carpet on which Lance laid down now, lazily envisaging doing yoga. It was soft, and Keith blessed the permeability of the castle to much kind of dust. He knew dust like an old grumpy man knows his hated neighbors he stills bares because he has no choice.

 

Back at the shack, dust compared to the uninvited roommate of all his nights. It creeped in his shoes, in his hair, rusting things and scratching other. Sandstorms and dusty winds had their time crashing on Keith.

Whether it was flying in twirling grains at life-threatening speeds or hiding, a cloth on his face, behind his windows, he has had his fair share or dust.

Keith knew dryness and dust too well, yeah, and letting it accumulate ten thousand years in a castle was no good. Bless the void of space.

 

Nothing had crossed the threshold of the ship before Shiro months ago.

 

Second thing Keith noticed was a blessing; the lights. Their rooms had this blue neon, and even though Lance loved blue, the light cooled everything down. Here, warm orange lit the room. When Keith found out this setting, he flashed the tiniest smile, _because Lance,_   _it's like in the desert._

 

Then, the rest. Everything was…  _more._ Keith had spotted a cupboard they decided to explore - thus finding the space kazoo he was blowing on now, and some other fun stuff they had gathered and kept at arm's length. Lance called dibs on opening the wardrobe, but since he showed no signs of moving to it, Keith waited.

 

Overall, it was relaxing. Keith’s skin looked purple from bruises and spots and fur and whatever, now, but they faked not noticing it. His throat burned at times, and Lance had caught him chugging water down way too fast, but decided to pass on it again.

Even if it meant letting an insidious guilt feel settle down his own throat.

The only improvement was the nails. Lance had filed and polished them. They were now short and shiny, and even though Keith believed it would not last, he decided to enjoy what he called : the Peace of the Instant.

Lance kept the manicure set, and he looked ravished by the tiny nail-clipper.

 

After some infructuous tries, Keith finally managed to blow some satisfying notes out of the space kazoo. His gaze flickered instantly to Lance, illuminated.

 

"Lance, did you hearmmhr- !"

 

Oh.

 

On the carpet, Lance had a foot cupping the back of his head. The other spread across the ground, leg perfectly still has the boy contorted like crazy. Both arms thrown above the head and gripping the ankle, Lance looked out of a circus. He could have been teleported all the way from there, Keith's eyes would not be wider.

 

"Lance... Lance, what the  _heck?_ " Keith whispered.

 

"Mmh? That's yoga. Well, not exactly, that's a dance move from ages ago, but I also use it as a yoga pose." Frozen in his ballerina state, Lance detailed Keith how his sister used to use him as a yoga instructor, and how he picked it up as a fun time hobby. Like it was nothing.

 

Like his legs were not going totally backwards.

 

His words flew above Keith's head.

 

"Lance. Lance your foot's behind your  _head._ " Keith whispered again. His mouth refused to go louder, afraid of breaking anything, maybe.

 

"Yeah, I know. I'm holding it there." Lance joked. After seconds, he finally let go off his ankle and went back to a perfect split up.

 

He counted to ten and changed for another stretching position.

 

" _Shit,_ Lance. How come none of us know about…  _That?_ " Keith's eyes had recovered a little of their normal size. His jaw had still a little trouble clamping back to his skull, though.

 

Lance moved, extending both feet away from his head again. His hands went after them, and soon enough he was bending in two, fingers above the toes, head on the knees. A classical figure, but it had its effect.

 

"What are you talking about? Everyone knows about that. Hunk is used to seeing me strechin' and has some pretty good moves. I forced Pidge to do some too once, and she likes to roll her back yoga-style after pulling crazy all-nighters." Lance released his feet. His hands went for the ceiling, and a wrist popped. The boy grimaced, and lowered his arms behind him.

 

"About Allura and Coran... I think I told them? And showed them then. Shiro arrived when I was doing the bridge. He told me it could be useful, but the armor doesn’t allow such flexibility." Propping his head above his hands, Lance bent again, backwards this time.

 

On the bed, Keith was fuming.

 

"Why am I the only one unaware of... Of this ?!" He gestured to the perfect bridge Lance performed. In his underwear. Right there. Did he have any consideration about Keith being there at all or what?

 

"Well. Now you know." Lance jolted, arching back into a seated position. He waddled to Keith and propped his elbows on the boy's knees. "You're doing a not so bad lotus yourself, if I may speak."

 

Keith gulped. His mind had a bottled copy of the last five minutes’ memories about to pop open anytime, and seeing Lance kneeling like this didn't help at all _._

_Focus Keith._

 

"So. Show me!" Lance pointed at the space kazoo.

 

“What now?”

 

“You told me you could blow. Blow me some notes, then.”

 

_Focus. Keith._

 

“Are you literally asking me to blow you right now?” Keith decided that if Lance wanted it this way, he was Not Going to back down.

 

“Ah, there he is! Weird Keith is back!” Lance propped his elbows on the bed, resting his chin on his palms now.

 

Keith’s head sulked in between his shoulders.

 

“Weird Keith? Who’s that?” Keith lowered the flute. If his blackout of earlier was about to get answers, he wanted to hear them crystal clear. By looking at Lance’s face, Keith figured he did not expected this question to be brought up so soon.

 

“Okay, this is making me doubt it… Testing time!” Lance sat up, rising from the ground to point at Keith’s forehead. “I say Vol, you say…?”

 

“Vol… No. Tron? I say Vol you say Voltron? Wait, that’s not the good one. Lance, wait, Lance stop laughing dammit!”

 

“Ha! Oh my- oh my god… Okay I got it... It’s you, I- KEITH NO TICKLING!”  

 

Since Lance had started compulsively laughing at Keith furrowing his brows trying to find the good cheering motto, and Keith decided it was time for war, both ended up rolling on the bed.

Lance had his hands on Keith’s face, scrunching his nose up, just to keep him at distance the best he could. Cold fingers of Keith roamed on his sides in a lame attempt at tickling the life out of him.

 

“STOP! STOP! STOOP!”

 

“You surrender?”

 

On top of Lance, pinching the skin right above the ribs, Keith was wearing his best triumphant smile. He picked again just for the drama.

 

“YES! Yes, I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!” Lance cried out.

 

“Okay. Then you’ll need to answer all of my questions!” Keith’s index pushed on smooth skin one last time. Keith flung his body across the bed, catching a pillow and getting back on sitting casually.

 

“I SAID YES BUT NOW STOP FOR THE LO- oh thanks. You backed down.”

 

Lance, still dazed by the tickle battle, took his time to recover. Looking straight into Keith’s eyes, he rolled back on his stomach.

 

“So,  _cheater._ ” He pushed the word on his tongue. Keith snickered. “What do you want to know?”

 

“I’m no cheater. You just had to restrain yourself from laughing at me!”

 

_But you were so cute!_

 

“No shit. You tried to kill me right there!” Lance picked on the cover, planting his nails in the fabric. Keith shoved him a pillow he ditched. “So. Tell me.”

 

Keith blew a few notes. A melancholic sound, chirpy into the silence of the castle.

 

“How many questions do I have?”

 

“One less.”

 

“No seriously, Lance. How many?” Keith toned.

 

“Mhh…” Lance rolled again, on his back, putting his chest on display and staring at Keith upside-down. “I’d say… Let’s continue? Like… Back there. We… I mean we were going full personal question stuff back in the tub and…”

 

Keith cut short, both Lance’s sentence and the building awkwardness.

 

“Fine with me.”

 

“Okay. Go on then!” Lance chirped.

 

Like a routine, Keith sorted out another set of notes. Bubbly, happier ones as he was reflecting on what did he wanted to know first. Lance had handed him all the keys.

 

“Anything?”

 

“Mh-hm. Yeah.” Lance answered distractedly, brushing his nails over his forearms, the scars and the bruises shaping small bumps over the skin.

 

_That’s a hell of potential._

 

_But there’s something that needs an answer right now._

 

“Who’s Weird Keith?”

 

Lance’s head dropped with a muffled sound. Keith threw his arms over his head.

 

“You said anything!”

 

“MH-HM!” Lance sheepishly looked at him from under his bangs, barely holding up his gaze. “I knoooow… Okay, ha, Weird Keith is… You, but like,  _not you._ ”

 

Keith raised his eyebrows while furrowing them, the expression overall as surprised as he was. What kind of bullshit was that again?

 

“Ha… After you passed out in the showers, you had some kind of… Episode? And you just got really strange with me. Nothing bad but it just… Wasn’t you…” Lance was fidgeting. It felt like walking on the edge of a cliff. But a cliff you halfway want to dive in.

 

“What do you mean,  _not me?_ ”

 

Lance propped himself on all fours and waddled toward Keith before dropping inches away from his knees.

 

“You… Kinda… Flirted with me.”

 

There. He dropped the bomb.

 

“I did  _what?_ ”

 

Lance retained a pained laugh. Keith looked so distraught, his hair fell out of place.

 

“You flirted with me! You told me I was hot…” Lance twisted his fingers on the covers, barely atoms away from Keith’s skin now. “Aaand… You called me ‘baby’…” His nail grazed a knee. Lance raised his eyebrows and peered at Keith.

 

Behind his bangs, the boy blushed so red Lance could have gotten worried if he was not too busy bursting out laughing and searching for his breath. Keith hid himself behind his hands, not afraid of his claws anymore, and buried his eyes deep in the palms.

 

Lance could barely catch the horrified murmurs of Keith under the sound of his own laughter. The simple view of him mouthing the words had the blue paladin gone for another round. His chest ached, but all the stress from the night and the emotional tension had to leak out, one way or another! And, to be honest…

Keith was hilarious in the best of all ways.

 

“But… Why?”

 

Keith broke the enchantment and Lance went back to serious. Or at least, to not batshit crazy.

 

“I don’t know, because I’m super handsome and you cannot handle it, maybe?” Lance rolled on his elbows, still trembling a little. “It’s the skin, I moisturize. Drives everyone crazy.” Keith kicked him in the shin. “Ouch, that hurt! I’m only saying the tru-”

 

“I get it! I GET IT.” Keith cut Lance off and shook his hands. “Just… Can we move on now ?!”

 

His hair was bristling somehow, patches of purple rising, fueled by frustration and shame. Lance toned down. He wanted himself reassuring, after all.

 

“Sure, what do you wanna know?”

 

“I… Huh…”

 

Lance smirked. Keith had basically one question to ask and got flustered, he stood no chances against King of Spin-the-bottle Lance. Truth or dare was  _his_ thing.

_Hey._

Speaking of spin the bottle…

 

“Gimme the space kazoo.” Lance sat cross-legged in front of Keith and snatched the flute out of his hands. “Since it’s absolutely unfair only  _you_ get to ask  _me_ question, from now on it’s going to be a game of truth or dare!”

 

Keith folded his arms, but relaxed himself and leaned back. He nodded at Lance to incite him to continue.

 

“Okay, I’ll consider you don’t know the rules…” Keith looked away. “Which is fine, by the way, but here they are.” Lance leaned over the flute, already prepared to spin it. Which, to be honest, was a little silly since they were only the two of them. But, heh, it was late, and Lance had not planned it all, okay?

 

His free index pointed up.

 

“Rule number one! It’s either truth, either dare, not both!” Lance enounced.

 

Keith shrugged.

 

“Number two! If you pick dare, you  _must_ do it, no matter how embarrassing or dangerous it is! It’s a matter of honor.”

 

The red paladin seemed genuinely interested, now.

 

“Three. If you choose truth, it’s mandatory to tell it. No joker, no veto, no whatever. Got it?”

 

“Mh-hm, I do. Spin it.” Keith’s chin pointed at the kazoo tangled in Lance’s fingers.

 

Both pretended to get absorbed by the little object rolling on the covers rather than peeking at the other at all. To the surprise of no one, it ended up pointing at them.

 

“I feel silly.”

 

“It’s not just a feeling, you know…”

 

“Oh, quiznack off!”

 

“Okay go on, I don’t care anyways. Truth or... dare?”

 

Lance stroked his chin. Truth… What would Keith possibly ask again? And  _dare…_ He just cleaned up, he had no desire to get dirty back again, and Keith seemed like the kind of people that dares you to triple stunt or do push-ups or… dumb shit like this.

 

“Huh… Truth.”

 

“Oh-kay…” A silence followed. Keith had no idea. Or maybe… “Do you know something about the castle absolutely no other human knows about?” An easy question, but he was getting there.

To be fair, Lance had expected something much more childish. He genuinely considered his answer.

 

“So, there’s this stash. Of nunvil. I think it was  _not_ nunvil, but after 10 000 years of maturation it is now, and if you ask me, the ethanol level must be pretty high. So, yeah. I know about some secret stash of super strong booze.”

 

Keith’s eyes opened wider than ever, glinting in the dark.

 

“You’re telling me… You’re sitting on a speak-easy?”

 

“Basically… Yeah.”

 

Another glint, and Keith bite his lip off, scrunching his nose in a lame attempt not to crack a smile.

 

“I’m not sure why, but it doesn’t even surprise me at this point!”

 

“Heh, I’m a party animal, I’m preparing for when the big ceremony of after war begins!” Lance showed a little dance impression, shaking his shoulders a little while throwing fake winks in the air. “The oldest booze of the universe! That’s some title.”

 

“No one will drink it, you know it.” Despite trying his best to hide it, Keith was pretty impressed. When did Lance even find the time to explore the gigantic castle anyways? “And how comes not even Pidge knows about this place?”

 

“It’s a low-gravity, no-energy zone. I’m pretty sure it’s to ‘preserve’ the stuff or whatever, but since there’s no power, there are no cameras. Pidge glasses never met the booze room.”

 

“This is what you’re calling it? The  _booze room?_ ”

 

“It’s a cool nickname! And it’s explicit.”

 

“Yeah, you need it easy.”

 

Lance stuck his tongue out at Keith, who gestured to his skull, doing faces back at Lance. He chuckled before spinning the kazoo.

 

“This is stupid.”

 

“Yeah I like it.”

 

“Me too.”

 

Lance tilted his head.

 

“Now. Truth or dare, Keithy boy?”

 

“Dare.”

 

“You had already chosen, didn’t you?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Would have bet on it. Okay, Keith. I called dibs on the wardrobe-”

 

“Oh no…”

 

“Don’t! Interrupt me. I called dibs on this magnificent wardrobe here, and-”

 

“Aarghh, Lance, can we just get to the point ?!” Keith groaned.

 

Lance rejected his demand, and stood up from the bed to gesture at the altean wardrobe. He even took the pose.

 

“I said: Do not interrupt your prince!” Lance ordered. His index made a no-no gesture as he turned away from Keith. His hands grabbed the holo-handles.

 

Back on the bed, Keith scoffed, despite the weight in his chest.

 

“Since when are you a  _prince?_ ”

 

“Since NOW!”

 

Dramatically shoving away the doors of the wardrobe, Lance revealed its insides. A full stash of clothes and some other gadgets, along with various items Keith had no idea could even exist.

It was both tragically deceiving and excitingly new. Lance couldn't pick a side.

 

“So, you’re the prince of… this?”

 

“Yeah I am! And I’m going to dress the both of us to prove it!”

 

Keith blinked.

 

“Is that my dare? A dress-up session?”

 

“Absolutely. And you can Not say no. To anything.”

 

Keith smirked and jumped off the bed, joining Lance on the sides of the opening. He folded his arms and decided to strike a pose too. Lance whistled.

 

“Oh oh, Keith wanna play!”

 

“Go on, dress me up if that’s what you wish.” Keith shrugged, his palms up to the ceiling. Lance grabbed one and literally shoved him next to the robes, grabbing a handful in his hands before plastering them under Keith’s chin.

 

“Uh-uh, red looks good on you but you should try something… A little bolder.”

 

“Like what, purple?” Keith tried. Lance nudged another altean robe to his chest. His lips pursed and he pouted, visibly considering it.

 

“I was going for teal, but purple’s good too.” Lance had already discarded a pile of robe and had barely settled on any for more than a second. Keith worried they would not have enough for him to be satisfi-

 

“PERFECT!”

 

“What?”

 

“This one. Try this one.”

 

Keith grabbed the fabric. It was soft, but the color looked… Horrible.

 

Okay, now, Keith knew he had not the best of all styles, but still. This striked as awful. The color, a brownish green, tended drawing towards a greyish blue… What the heck was even the hue anyways? And the sewing made no sense whatsoever.

 

“How am I even supposed to put this on ?!” Keith groaned.

 

“I don’t know, but you have to!” Lance chirped. He was not even looking, buried shoulders deep into the wardrobe, selecting and rejecting outfits at speedlight.

 

Keith sighed and pushed his head in one of the too many holes of the… robe.

He tried to put his arm here. Ah, nevermind. Wrong hole. Okay this might fit… There!

 

Keith’s head popped out, and he breathed again.

 

“So. Happy now?”

 

Lance raised his eyes to Keith’s level and pursed his lips.

 

Keith was standing there, balancing on each foot, arms extended away from his body. Body covered in a deliciously ridiculous robe. It looked like his grandma and an eighteenth century fashionista had teamed up to bake the worst of the worst.

 

And his boy was wearing it.

 

Oh god, Lance loved Truth or Dare.

 

“Happy? Mh-hh… Not sure. I have this one too, and it’s pretty damn cool, so… I’ll need to make a choice, you see. Okay, wait, wait there. I think I might find something useful in there.” Lance strolled to the bunch of gadgets scattered on the carpet.

The space kazoo was quite a banger, but Lance was interested in something else. Shoving away the space Rubik’s cube -which looked terrifying by the way, its faces changing sizes and colors randomly, all of them displaying different nebulas and galaxies instead of basic plain colors - and what seemed like a badly designed transistor - a weird mix of 80’s style and futuristic functionality, Alteans really had strange taste in designers -, he finally caught what he needed.

 

The altean polaroid equivalent.

 

Holding it triumphantly above his head, Lance ran up to Keith.

 

“Okay, don’t move!”

 

“You’re joking? Blackmail material ?!”

 

Before Keith could draw a move, Lance had pressed the button, and the picture of Keith indignantly standing in the worst piece of cloth ever created was forever saved, in some magical technologic file.

 

The flash blinded Keith a second, his brain flooded with electrical signals -too much light, buddy, we talked about this- but recovered. He jumped on Lance.

 

“GIVE IT TO ME!”

 

“No, this allows me so much raw power. Imagine what Pidge could do with this?” His arm in the air, the polaroid inches away from Keith’s hands, Lance dodged Keith’s attempt at catching it.

 

“LANCE!” Keith blared. He was clamping on Lance elbows, desperately trying to lower his hand.

 

“I’m Joking, Keithy boy, I’ll keep it under my pillow, don’t worry!” Lance rolled on his hips to escape another of Keith’s jumps. From there, it looked like they were kind of... dancing. Keith in the absurd robe, Lance still in his undies, jumping on their toes in all the room.

 

Excepted the floor of said room was covered in various stuff. Little cubes, and big, swift clothes. Lance had thrown them all over himself.

 

That’s why he found himself not  _so_ surprised to have his heel caught on a silky sleeve and, with Keith hanging on his arms, his balance left him for good. He fell flat on his back, again.

 

“Looks like I’ve fallen for you again!” Lance muttered. Spikes electrified his chest once again and, though this time his breath did not left, he still felt a little dizzy.

 

To be honest, Keith felt the same way, but not because of the sudden dive on the floor. Lance’s words.

 

_What is that supposed to mean? Stupid pun or…_

 

Shaking off his thoughts, Keith took advantage of the fall and extended his arm once again. Lance yanked his sleeves back and blocked his wrists. Caught in the action, he forgot about Keith’s condition.

Which had him considerably weaker at times, sure. But a scoff against a newly revealed strength? Keith was all for it if it meant he could pin down Lance on the ground and catch back the polaroid.

 

“GOT IT!”

 

Elevating the small object way higher than Lance could reach, Keith exulted. Lance let his head fell back.

 

“This is unfair, I fell. And you’re stronger than me.” He eventually pushed on his arms, sitting back again. Keith manipulated the polaroid like his life depended on it. Lance pointed at him. “One day, don’t worry, I’ll be the one to block you and none of your ninja tricks will do anything against that.”  

 

“Sounds rather threatening...” Keith wanted to sound offended, but cracked a smile before he could end his sentence.

 

“This  _outfit_ is threatening! Okay, oh my god, tear it off and put this one on, my eyes can barely take it anymore!” Lance defended himself and launched a robe at Keith.

 

He caught it and thoroughly studied it, deciding whether Lance was playing him again or not.

 

This one was a purple. It looked quite simple, to be fair. Nothing fancy, no holes in unexpected places -who needs a hole on the right elbow? No one! What the heck - just a dark purple piece of cloth. Some gold details and embroidery had been added but overall, it was smooth and nice.

 

“Purple, huh?”

 

“I listen to the voice of my people. Put it on, I’m taking the bathroom!” Lance happily trailed past Keith, a mountain of items in his arms. Keith had not even noticed him picking up the items. He raised a brow but decided to make no comments, since his head was already halfway into his own dress up robe.

 

Lance had chosen perfectly. Keith hoped he knew it. He probably knew, but still. It fitted Keith perfectly.

 

_And he chose it for me. Expressly for me._

 

Suddenly Keith felt the urge to sit back on the bed. He felt much comfier in the silky robes than in bare skin.

 

“Guess having a fashion’s prince helps sometimes…” Keith muttered to himself. His hand tugged on the fabric. The other took the flute.

 

‘ _Looks like I’ve fallen for you again’._

 

Several kazoo tunes later, the same song still popped in loop in his head.

 

‘ _Looks like I’ve fallen for you again’_.

 

Keith felt his cheeks warm up. How come he was always reduced to a messy blush whenever Lance did… This! Whatever it was.

 

He buried his hands in his hair, ruffling it to shake out the feeling crippling over him. God he was so bad at this. Whatever it was again. What was even anything at all? What the heck. Shit.

 

“Aww quiznack.” Keith swore under his breath. Physical messes were one thing, emotional mangles another. Guess which one he had no idea how to handle?!

Looking at tonight, actually,  _none._

 

His nails rammed up his scalp. It was still a little humid at places.

 

_Shit, did I hit it so bad?_

 

He had noticed it. Over both sides, small bumps. Commotions, probably, but it did not hurt as much as it should have. Keith trailed his nails again.

 

“What the…”

 

No time to follow, a clicking noise exploded in his ears. He heard the bathroom door open. The sound of fabric brushing into the room filled the room, followed by the clinging of jewelry. The perfume rushed at Keith right after.

 

Then he saw Lance.

 

“Do you like it?”

 

“Yeah I…”

 

Keith was feeling lost. His mind was woozy. Lance smelled head-spinningly good and was covered in teal satin from head to… To thighs, actually. His outfit barely made it from shoulder to thighs.

Teal satin from shoulder to thighs and golden embroidery. And a blue cape. Blue and covered in sparkles like it was cut out in the night sky.

 

To a certain extent, Keith could bear the view of Lance’s in cape and thigh-short shorts. But add to that the fact that he managed to find a tiara and, somehow, some turquoise make up? Keith was gone.

 

Keith was done.

 

Keith was buried six feet under and he had no way to crawl up.

 

His heart was pumping so hard in his chest it felt it wanted to get out to caress the silk and the skin under it.

 

“Lance, I… How did you even…”

 

“Pretty cool, huh? I think it suit me well.”

 

Lance twirled around, showing off. The back of the suit ended so low Keith could catch some of the scars on Lance’s back. And the collarbones? And the eyes?

And his smile? He looked so happy he outshined the golden and the turquoise, the shiny and the pearly.

  


“Yes. Yeah, it does.”

  


Lance twirled once again before plopping on the bed next to Keith. If Keith was snuggly and nudging into his robe, Lance has directly dropped out of a royalty party. He looked content.

He was.

And he hoped Keith’s blush meant what he thought it would.

 

Lance had spent half of the time in the bathroom clinging to his chest and panicking on the sides. Did he just fucking confess or what?

 

But Keith was so dense. Maybe he did not notice.

 

Maybe he did.

 

_What if he did? I’m so busted._

 

Lance decided the best way to figure out was to directly ask, and he wanted his turn to come back, just so he could directly have Keith answer, instead of messing his brain with suppositions.

 

“So. Keith, spin the kazoo! I wanna play.”

 

“S-sure.”

 

Keith actually made the flute roll on the bed again, more out of convention than out of real need.

 

“Lance, truth or dare?”

 

“Truth! Truth is the best!”

 

Keith pouted and looked away.

 

God he was bad at finding questions.

 

“Huh… Tell me… One thing… About… You… You’re the only one… To know?” Keith wandered around the words.

 

“I’m actually super good at building fires! Okay my turn, Keith, truth or dare?” Lance babbled.

 

“Is that all? You can build  _fires_?” Keith felt his heart sink a little.

 

He’d expected Lance to tell him something about… Anyways. Nothing to say he would not already know about them, anyways. Nevermind.

 

“Did you know?” Lance pointed out.

 

“No.”

 

“Then it counts! Truth or dare?” Lance gushed even faster.

 

Keith smelled the trap. Finally, this hell of extra-avert senses was going to be useful. He ditched truth. Not falling for this.

Locking eyes with Lance, he opened his mouth. Lance wanted him to spill something? Guess who was about to be played, then!

 

“Dare.”

 

“WHAT ?!”

 

“I said. Dare.” Keith smirked. He felt so smug, Lance looked seriously out of place! As much as possible when looking like an alien prince, at least.

 

_Oh, you think you’re smart, right? I’m getting my truth out of you, pretty boy. I got more than one trick up my… Cape._

 

“Okay, okay, fine.” Lance leaned down, so close his breath brushed Keith’s hair. “I dare you to drink whatever I’ll put in the glass I’m about to fetch.”

 

Keith’s smile vanished in a microsecond.

 

“Are you serious now?”

 

“You can back off like a loser and lose like a chicken if you want.” Lance shook his shoulders off, a little dance move.

 

“No! I’m doing it.” Keith crossed his arms firmly and glared at Lance. “It’s on. Go.”

 

Lance snickered. He was not one to back down a challenge either. They stared at each other for a second.

 

_This is so on. You have no idea what you walked into._

 

Eventually, Lance shook his head, breaking the moment.

 

“Okay. Wait there, I’ll be back.” Lance jumped out of the bed, and the space between the two boys suddenly grew bigger than it has ever had this evening. On the threshold, Lance turned back, silk glinting even brighter under the hallway lights. “Hasta la vista, baby!”

 

And the door shut.

 

Of course, the line was a reference to Terminator 2; but Keith did not know that. That’s probably why his face went so red and so warm suddenly. Again.

 

As soon as Lance started running in the hallways, is cape flowing behind him, he noticed it. He broke the deal.

 

He was running for Keith.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-dah ! Guess what is Keith about to drink ;) ;) 
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter! Things got... trippy ! (because they tripped. I'm going to pun hell). If there's any typo don't hesitate to tell me, i probably did not see them! Have fun and don't hesitate to tell me what you thought about it!


	10. Where the sea meets the sand - or - Hold on tight I still need you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance cries, Keith purrs and they try to forget anything involving purple skin, salty lips or really sinking feelings. So they get drunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *”Se jeta à l’eau” means “to throw himself in the water” or, more metaphorically, to just to it, headfirst. There was no way to translate the pun so here it is. 
> 
> Chavirer : Fall over at sea, specifically about boats. Capsized is specific to boats too in french so here is another missed pun. I’m really salty about those missed puns. 
> 
> Boire la tasse : Swallow water but, not on purpose. Accidentally drinking seawater. 
> 
> French sayings are hard to traduce but I wanted to include the passed up poetry !!

Leaving the room was harder than Lance made it seem.

 

He paced in the corridor for a couple of meters, just enough to let the door shut itself. The second he realized he was alone, he bolted.

 

His thoughts were fuming out his brain. He could feel the steam escaping by his ears, for real.

 

Keith’s state was beyond everything he’d planned. He thought he was in for a night of fever and scoffing, nothing he couldn’t handle, but that,  _ that  _ was something else. Lance pictured the stains of Keith’s skin, the purple gradients spreading in his mind like they did on the boy’s back.  

 

What the heck was that ? 

 

_ Nothing human. For sure.  _

 

Keith had caught something during their last visit on a planet. That could only… But how ? If Keith was sick of… Whatever this thing was, weren’t all of them supposed get purple too ? Lance peered at his arms. No purple. 

 

Lance drifted. Hickeys would blend in. They kinda looked similar… 

 

He shook his head off.  _ Focus, Lance. _

 

But he could always handle a purple Keith. His brain, however... What the  _ quiznack  _ was up with the crisis and the shutdowns ? Nothing Lance had ever heard about. No seizures, no epilepsy, no latin sentences pronounced backwards ; Keith was neither possessed nor he got some deeper neurologic trouble. 

 

So what was it ? 

 

Lance turned around the corner of the area. The pattern of the walls changed, ever so slightly that it was invisible for those who never looked. An error of measurement, maybe, or an Altean choice of aesthetic. A shape a little higher, the lights barely lower. 

 

Lance had noticed the change. 

 

He’d entered the closest wing. Only a matter of minutes before the secret room would get in view. 

 

Secretly, Lance prayed for nothing to happen to Keith meanwhile he was there. His stomach reeled. What the fuck was he doing ? He should have told Shiro and Allura way sooner, and yet, he was there for a stupid game. 

 

He should be telling Shiro and Allura. He should be looking for any strand of white hair onboard. 

He really should. 

 

But Keith had pleaded him not to, and he couldn’t… 

He did not  _ wanted  _ to, because somehow, his stupid ego took pride in the fact that Keith had asked Lance, and only Lance, to take care of him. 

 

Shit. 

 

His feets were cold on the floor, his toes barely brushing the surface already frozen. Lance was aerian, flying in the corridors silently. He did everything in his power to maintain at bay the creeping feeling of being watched by all the eyes of the walls, piercing blue in the whiteness of the metal. 

 

And suddenly the feeling got more real than he wished. 

 

Something had laid his eyes on Lance, on his silky cape. Some gaze just wandered over his skin, burning it to the point Lance shivered. His feet stopped. 

 

Shit. 

 

“Allura ?”

 

_ Shit _ . 

 

Speak of the devil…

 

Lance jolted back forward. He paced faster in the corridor, the cape swiftly hugging his calves before going back to float mid-air, and then again. It flapped, again and again. The sound resonated in the empty halls and Lance bite the inside of his cheeks to avoid shrieking. How was he so silent before, and so utterly noisy  _ now  _ ? 

 

“Hey…” 

 

The voice was too low, more of a growl than anything, to belong to anyone else but Shiro. 

 

_ Shit _ . 

 

Of all the castle’s inhabitants, it  _ had  _ to be Shiro. And he walked much faster than Lance. Fucking ripped thighs and stupid intensive training. Lance should have ran his miles before regretting it. 

 

His mind vomited option to him. Turn back and pretend to be Allura. Stupid. Run ? But Shiro would tackle him in less than 0.9 seconds, so no. Faint and pretend to be sleeping ? Like he had the chance ! 

The solution came from the castle itself. Lance was on his field, and the only thing Shiro could never beat him at was navigating in the vast labyrinth of halls and rooms Lance had spent his time learning like the back of his hands. Even  _ Pidge  _ was unaware of some things he saw. 

 

A huff, and Lance felt his hair rise on his neck. 

 

_ Shit, shit, shit.  _

 

Shiro’s robotic arm pinned the boy just when he reached a corner, praying for the salvation of some hidden door behind a miraculous angled wall. 

Universe can be a bitch sometimes. 

 

Shiro blurted words while Lance tried to adjust to the sudden change of celerity. His back just got slammed against the hard metal and he was hardly breathing through the shock.

 

“Allura, what are you doing here ?! I thought you… Lance ?” 

 

Shiro’s expression went from passably intrigued to weirdly surprised as he stared down at Lance. The boy waved a hand. Sheepish smile, folded brows ; he hoped the expression would soften Shiro as well as it used to work on his sister. 

 

But Rosa never had to find him going over the wall, she was more… Showing him the way. 

 

“H-Hey, shiro ?! Nighty night, isn’t it ?”

 

Removing his hand from the wall, Shiro folded his arms. Contrary to what Lance thought, he did not even raised a brow. Some...  _ vibes  _ radiated from him. Couldn’t pinpoint which one. 

 

“What are you doing here ?  We’re arriving in less than three hours now, didn’t you get it earlier in the main room?”

 

Lance broke their eye contact. Even with all the lights around, Shiro’s still looked pitch black. It matched with the outfit and the eyebags, at least. 

 

“Yeah, I did… But I woke up and got thirsty…” Lance trailed off. Excuses had always been his  _ forte  _ on earth, but the cards on his hands had melted down dramatically since they were in space. 

Shiro didn’t buy it. It showed. 

 

“And you decided to walk all around the castle instead of, I don’t know, going to your  bathroom.” Despite the humor of the situation, Shiro sounded exhausted. Lance did not even bother trying to find any trace of laughter in his voice. Shiro was never amused by his little jokes, why would he be by his screw ups ? “Try me later, Lance. I don’t… Ah.”

 

Shiro rubbed his temples. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes, his hand flipping on his side. ‘Whatever.’ Even glancing at him made Lance tired. 

The weight of the universe rested on his shoulders, after all, and Shiro was only a man. In the body of a god, sure, but he stayed human. For most of it. His arm was Gal-

 

“Listen,” Shiro cut off Lance’s flow...  _ waterfall  _ of thoughts. “I don’t know what your or Pidge are planning again, but I don’t want to hear about it. I don’t care. Go to sleep. You’ll need to be quick and efficient tomorrow, you’re no use tired.”

 

Lance stiffened. Something dusty rolled between his throat and his stomach. Something heavy. Something gross. 

 

“Yes. Sir.”

His shoulders squared and he only recalled to relax his hands when his nails started to dug in the skin of his forearms. His chest lifted heavy off the wall as he passed by Shiro. It felt like he broke a rib in the process, skin ripping of in the process of peeling of the metal. It would explain the piercing pain thumping through his chest.

 

“Lance.”

 

Silence. At least it meant he had stopped walking. Lance considered this a sufficient response. 

 

“I… I did not mean it. I’m sorry.” Shiro shook his head, his eyes still tightly shut. “You’re always... You’re always needed.” 

 

“Unless I’m too busy being a burden or a silly dead weight, I guess ?” Lance hissed. He faced the corridor. His shoulder blades were now the only thing on display for Shiro to read him. 

 

“Lance, please I…” 

 

Conscious of it or not, Lance was walking away. His ears blocked the words Shiro shouted after him and the sounds melted with the salt of the tears streaming down his cheeks. Somehow, he breathed through the dust and the coal covering his lungs.

 

It hurts. 

 

Lance knew he was not a favorite. He always knew, just by looking at the gentle touches on Keith’s shoulders, or the warming up smile addressed to Pidge. He knew because he had no way to make anything about him unless it was bad news. Or silly stuff. And he knew because he craved the praises like a lost prisoner in the desert craves water. 

 

And sometimes Shiro deigned to soak him drops. 

 

And it was so good he could have gotten off on it because he knew. He knew he was the switching point, the turning table, the pivot pawn. He knew because he was adaptable and skilled but not a master, and flexible to the point it burned to never snap ; but always bend to no end. 

A jack of all trades. 

 

He tried, though. He tried hard and he did his best and people appreciated that, but what was the point ? He had one talent but he needed all of them. And alas, he was not disciplined enough, or maybe not strong enough to reach that. He stayed good. 

A master of none. 

 

Lance knew he was  _ good _ . He  _ knew  _ to the core and in every bone he was a good boy, a nice kid, a charming pleasure to be with, a silly head to goof around. A pretty flower or a sweet song. 

 

But he was not  _ enough _ . And it hurts. 

 

He swallowed a whimper. The gross feeling sank a little lower inside, mushing his guts, physical manifestation of the pain in his head. A greasy hands was pushing it down his throat, the coated fingers drying his mouth and the nails scratching his tongue.

It felt like sucking charcoal.

 

The halls ended on a cul-de-sac. Luckily his steps had led him to the secret cupboard. Functioning on automat, he slammed the holo-handle and drifted inside. The cape had long stopped swishing.

 

As soon as the stash’s door shuffled back in place, he crashed on the floor. His legs collapsed on his knees. He heard a bone crack somewhere, maybe a kneecap. He had pulled on it all night, jumping and running and doing all kind of crazy nonsense for… No reason ? Keith ? 

Did he tried to prove himself something at some point or was he just realizing now how useless he could be sometimes ? 

 

Tired, ineffective, Lancey Lance was a dead weight to carry. He was shit at strategy and worse at close combat. Keith could take all of his targets by throwing daggers and fucking punching them. Pidge would already have them crushed by some clever door opening and space void freezing. 

 

_ Whatever ! _

 

Shiro did not even questioned his clothes. Just Lance being stupid, as usual. Keep on track kid, this is war, not a game !

 

He wished the door would open behind him. He wished he would still be standing and Shiro would open it and he would fall into his arms. He would be carried to his bed and Keith would be there and perfectly perfect by his side. Nothing would be wrong. 

 

He wished at least for a knock on the door, a reach, a sound. He knew he could not loose Shiro like this, not by just walking away. If anything had really mattered, he would not even had reached the door in the first place and Shiro would have insisted. 

 

But he did not. 

 

The tiara scratched his scalp when Lance tore it off his head. It shattered in crystal tears on the ground as his hands rammed through the hair, tearing and pulling bits and strands. His fingers were so cold, so cold.

Sobbing hard, breathing became itchy. The weight on his chest became a little too heavy for him to bare and after the knees, his entire body stopped holding him up. 

 

Small shards pierced the skin of his hands when they pressed on the floor, and like a sinking ship, he fell. Slowly at first, his balance progressively losing it, and then all at once, the weight shifting abruptly to crash on the cold tiles. 

 

His internal organs had been smashed and put back together. The only explanation for how disgustingly painful it feeled down there. Lance wished he had the courage to puke but even that was too much. He did not want to cause a scene either. 

 

He was too emotional. Throwing a tantrum like that, stupid little baby, right ? If he’d behaved like an adult, by now, Shiro would be well aware of Keith’s problem and Lance would be back to his empty room. Back to normal. 

 

His naked shoulders and bare feet trembled for a while before Lance could recall his senses back. He licked the blood on his thumb and cracked the joints of his neck. Rolled an ankle or two. 

Back in business. 

 

Bottle up, kid ! And one day, you’ll die.

 

Speaking of bottles…

 

Glinting in the dark thanks to the security lights, arranged in order and stacked up to the ceiling, thousands of glassy bottles. Not quietly similars to vine bottle, not really beer ones either. 

Lance randomly picked up one. It fitted perfectly in his hand. It was so  _ easy _ . 

 

He shook the liquid inside, watching it drip on the inside of the bottle. No matter what was originally in there, it would not taste like it anyways.

Lance was sure of that, because getting drunk in the middle of the night alone is super fun when you’re missing home. Most, if not all, of the liquids had the exact same taste every single time he gulped them down to burn away the ache. 

 

Dope. 

 

He took care of not splitting his feet open on the shattered crystal -he heard his sister loud and clear in his head _ “what a waste, you dumb dumb” _ \- and reopened the door of the stash. His head peaked out. 

 

No one. 

 

On one hand, cool, because he could run back unnoticed. On the other, his heart sank lower because… No one. 

 

He decided he would walk back to Keith. His throat burned too much to run anyways. The bottle was chilly in his hand. The other brushed over the wall as he stumbled. The image of this drunk girl holding herself to the brick wall out of the nightclub printed itself on his retina. 

 

Today, her skin was brown and she wore shorts too short and nothing much more. Her feet were, in fact, bleeding whereas she thought she didn’t touch any of the broken glass of her cocktail. She was alone because her boyfriend waited at home probably, not thinking of her much but still needing her to be back. 

Today the drunk sad girl was Lance, and he was not even drunk yet. 

 

“Lance.” 

 

Between the thumping of the nightclub’s music -or was it blood at his temples ? Couldn’t tell- and the laughter of faceless people, Lance could barely hear his name. 

 

“Fuck off. Not in the mood.” 

 

Not today. Three people already asked him out and he was tired. Or maybe just one guy, but he had been three places with him. Hah. 

He was so tired. 

 

“Lance, stop that.” A cold tone, an order, but a pleading too. Strange. 

 

“Shiro, stop that.” Lance mimicked, his own voice too high pitched.

 

The grip on his wrist yanked him back to reality. 

 

“Lance. What are you doing ?” Shiro hissed. He looked pissed. Wait, no furious. No. No, no. Anxious. Anxious. Shiro was worried. 

 

“I’m-” Lance held his gaze up. 

 

If Shiro looked at his other hand only one second, his secret was out. Outing stuff had already happened once back on earth, he was not screwing this one. 

Good thing Shiro popped  _ before  _ the lid of the Altean vodka. Lance would have had a hard time explaining the smell of his breath otherwise. 

 

“I’m getting back in my room.” His hand slipped behind his back. Thanks Altea for you and your capes. Meanwhile, Shiro let go off his wrists and solidly pawed his shoulders. 

 

The feeling was nice but like, not now. Anything but now. 

 

“Lance. I’m sorry, okay. You didn’t want to listen and I lost myself there, but-” 

 

“Wait- you really got lost ?” 

 

Lance was kind of proud. It worked. 

Shiro lost is way in the maze. 

 

“I thought you were too ?” Shiro tilted his head.

 

“No ?” 

 

Silence stretched. Okay, well, hum. Awkward. 

Shiro brushed it off. 

 

“Anyways. I’ve been meaning to tell you something.” Shiro breathed in. Lance braced himself by glaring at his ribcage expanding beyond human belief. “I… I’m asking you because, I think you’re the only one he would trust.” 

 

Wait,  _ he  _ ? 

 

Shiro didn’t allowed Lance to process. 

 

“Lance, do you know where Keith is ?”

 

Oh. 

 

Oh. Okay. 

 

Shiro’s hand lost several inches of altitude as Lance’s shoulders dropped. 

 

_ Okay, Lancey boy, you can take this three ways.  _ One, you cry because you thought this was gonna be a nice apology. Two, you tell Shiro that Keith is probably dying in a room two corridors down and you’re about to get drunk looking at him. 

 

Three. 

 

You lie. 

 

This is the bad option. You don’t want Keith’s last moments to be with you in an Altean bedroom. You want him happy and safe, so tell big bro Shiro what’s going on. 

 

“Lance ?”

 

Tell him. No matter what Keith said, tell him. Better have Keith hate you for the rest of his life than have Keith dead. 

 

“Lance, are you okay.” Shiro flickered his eyes between Lance’s, his head following the movement and shifting with every gaze. Grey eyes, stormy eyes. Shiro was always so tensed. A storm. 

 

When did he ever let it out ? 

 

“Lance ?” 

 

“I have…” 

 

Shiro nodded. The hope, the tightening of his claws on Lance’s shoulders. 

 

“Lance. He’s not in his room. If you know where he is…” Shiro sounded desperate, but Lance forgot about that. 

 

“How do you know that ?” Lance hissed. His stomach felt suddenly so heavy it would have anchored the ship to the nearest planet. 

 

The white tuft of hair on Shiro’s forehead lowered when his head sank. The guy seemed defeated, somehow. Lance was not sure why. 

 

“I checked.” 

 

“And you do that… often ?” Lance tried not to sound accusatory. Key word, tried. He remembered the bottle in his hand and took profit out of the situation to maintain it out of view. He sneaked his free hand under Shiro’s chin. Big bro, sad bro. Look at my eyes. “Like, for everyone or… ?”

 

Shiro looked away. Yes ! That’s a win for Lancey Lance ! 

 

“Ever since he tried to leave us like that. I… I get those nightmares, even though it’s a little older, but, you know, and-” Shiro exhaled. “When I wake up, I just want to make sure everyone is there.”

 

Ah. ‘Everyone’. Sure. But Lance was out of his room, too… 

 

“That’s why I was looking for you. I know you two have this weird…”

 

“Relationship ?”

 

“Connection.” Shiro ran a hand through his hair and down his neck, scratching it. Lance rolled his newly freed shoulder. How can a single hand apply so much pressure to an entire body ? “Anyways, when I figured you both had left somewhere, I immediately went to the lions. And then the pods.”

 

“You knew I was out there ?” Lance figured his heart was not so dead yet, because it fluttered in his chest.

 

“I usually check every room. Allura is gone too, that’s why…” Shiro lowered his eyes, detailing Lance. 

 

Nope, not doing that. 

 

“You thought I was  _ Allura  _ ?” Guilt usually trails peoples off. 

 

Shiro facepalmed. Another win for Lance Mcqueen !

 

He was good at this little game. Heck, if Keith wasn’t out there waiting for hi…  _ Shit  _ ! Shit, shit, if Keith decided to come look for him… And he would, eventually. The door was two turns away. He would hear them, obviously, he could hear a fly buzz in a stadium right now.

 

Shit, he had to cut short Shiro’s rambling. Big bro back to sleep,  _ now _ . 

 

“Listen, I didn’t want to, but you have to admit the whole attire is a little…” Shiro waited for Lance to end his sentence. He did not. “Altean.”

 

Nice one, champ’. Good backpedaling. But you know what makes people even more flustered, to the point they don’t dare to ask anything anymore at all ? 

Sexy stuff. 

 

“Yeah. Well as you see, when I got nightmare, I dress up as a princess and jerk off in front of a mirror.” That, and Lance tiptoed away from his friend. “Bye Shiro, Keith is probably on the training deck as always, sleep well !” 

 

Shiro stopped looking at the void when Lance mentioned the training deck, and clapped his hands. 

 

_ Oh my god, he did not even thought about it. _

 

From an external point of view, you would say Shiro was the one relieved to run away. Well, truth is, both of them were very happy to finally be alone in the corridors. Lance sighed as he applied his hand to the door.

 

“There goes my reputation of prettiest virgin.”

 

What reputation ? 

 

Lance snickered. 

 

“What’s so funny ?” 

 

Keith was still draped on the bed. Lance had been gone, for what, like, ten minutes ? Maybe more. Let’s say twelve. Anyways; twelve minutes on your own when you’re a sick teenage boy in a unknown location can be pretty long, especially when you’re not just bored but waiting for someone. 

 

He mastered the space kazoo, though. 

 

Lance sat on the edge of the bed. Keith smelled it before even seeing it. Distress, anger, worry. And blood. 

 

“I found a nice bottle. Great vintage.” Lance winked.

 

It was strange. Keith could literally  _ feel  _ the emotions Lance radiated, like waves licking his palms, like a gentle breeze on his hair. It was so disturbing, firstly because he realized he never really understood Lance until now, and secondly, because it clashed with everything Lance was saying. 

 

In a matter of twelve minutes, Keith went from ‘I feel strange’ to ‘I feel EVERYTHING’. And he was caught in the middle. 

 

“So. Got your glass ?” Lance shimmied his shoulders. 

 

Keith stared at Lance’s hair. The tiara was gone. It shined before and now it was gone. His eyes lowered to the expecting lips Keith found swollen, and the cheeks. Salt. From a mile away, Keith could have bet on it. Salt. 

 

“Keith if you’re backpedaling from this I’m judging you forever.” Lance folded his arms cheekily. His shoulders rolled and Keith wondered why it felt so odd. Nothing was really going well. His nails too, his precious nails were broken for two of them. 

 

_ And it smelled blood.  _

 

“Keith ? Are you going to keep me waiting ? If that’s a punishment because it took me forever…” Lance pouted. The roleplay was so obvious now Keith wondered how did no one else notice. Lance sweated unease and discomfort, right there !

 

“What happened ?” Keith whispered. 

 

“Did you even paid attention ? It’s still your turn to play !” Lance waved the bottle in his hand. “Stop trying to dodge it, and give-” 

 

Keith slapped Lance’s hand mid-air. Well, he wanted to flick it away, truly, but his hand moved stronger than he wished. Lance’s wrist flew away. 

 

Lance’s jaw dropped. 

 

It was like an ocean. Sometimes, Keith read it in a book, sometimes, every single drop of water was removed from the beach and everything went away. In this case, people were asked to evacuate as quickly as possible ; the probability of a tsunami was confirmed. 

In fact, the water was retrieved to form a giant wave far away, growing more and more, then speeding full force to the shores where it would crash and destroy everything in a radius proportional to its intensity. 

 

Lance was an ocean. 

 

Keith’s nerves tickled one after the other in an explosive chain reaction. The air tasted like iodine and salt and wetness. Tears or waves, Keith couldn’t tell. 

Lance was on the verge of crying. Something ugly. 

 

Keith reached out for his hand, the one with the bottle. His entire chest was about to implode under the pressure. He waited for the wave to come and crush him, he  _ wanted  _ to wait, but he couldn’t. He grasped Lance’s hand and yanked the bottle away, letting it roll on the bed until a tink on the wall resonated through the bedroom. 

 

Legends and cinema say that whenever the biggest bang is about to burst, everything goes silent. It was like before the pool, before they got sucked into space. Keith held out his breath and dived.* 

 

The tidal crashed on the sand. 

 

Lance did taste like the ocean. His lips were just like everything about him, sweet and warm and salty and Keith dissolved like sand in the water, like sugar in the ocean. 

 

Keith was a desert, hot and burning and scratching. Lonely, wild, and deep down, tied to an emotion no one could really name but everyone could relate to. He walked on the edge, where the sea meets the sand.

 

His nose breathed in Lance’s cheeks. Keith had screwed his eyes shut, for fear to look at the depths of the aquamarine gaze an inch above. 

 

The wave of emotions washed him over, he got submerged and nothing was below or above and nothing made sense. His own heart beated so hard it seemed a storm in his chest, and on top of that, the whirlwind of sensation. It’s like Keith’s mind forgot to  _ feel _ . He got capsized*, lost in the middle of the storm, somewhere between the rain and the abysses. 

 

Biology says you can’t breath underwater, and Keith had to admit yet again tonight, science rules. 

Lance was an ocean and Keith needed to breath, so he crashed through the surface, he parted away and broke their kiss. 

 

Keith never really learned how to swim. 

 

His hands were shaking, and when Lance twisted his wrist out of them, any kind of force to keep him there, to not let go, anything had drowned. Keith felt his stomach drop low, sink and thump at the bottom. Lance was still frozen. 

 

The calm before the storm. 

 

“Lan-” 

 

“If you wanted to shush me, you could have found another way, Mullet.” Lance chuckled. He brushed a finger over his lips, though. 

 

Keith felt the elevator of his heart get from rock bottom to cloud 9 at rocket speed. Unsettling. 

 

“You…” 

 

“No, really, try everything but you’re drinking this booze here and now.” Lance crossed the bed to fetch the bottle and glared around to find any kind of glass Keith had tossed away. 

 

Keith felt like he needed to speak. His mouth only bubbled little huffs, though. Speech gone for now, retry later. That’s what they call  _ boire la tasse _ .* He passed a hand over his lips. A single string of saliva stayed, as a witness of the wet contact. 

 

“I really had trouble getting it, you know.” 

 

Error 404, network connectivity unavailable in space. 

 

“Tell me how much.” 

 

Lance was purposely avoiding looking at his eyes, and he knew it. He was making everything in his possible to not make any kind of contact. Because Lance imagined that Keith needed to see him, to watch his face carefully, to decipher him. 

 

The thing is, Keith had unlocked a cheat code, and he was making the best out of it. 

Lance was undeniably, and positively happy. The rancid smell of bitterness was gone and Keith could feel this joy bubbling everywhere around. No more lying to me Lance, don’t try. You’re happy. 

 

Well, sure, Keith could still feel this layer of terror and just as much as undeniable sorrow, but overall, he had made Lance happy. 

 

The sound of liquid being poured down woke Keith up. Well, more than that, the silence following it. 

 

“Cocktail’s served. You didn’t say stop, so you get a full drink.” Lance chirped. 

 

Keith wanted to roll down and scream and cry of joy. He could  _ hear  _ sparkles. Maybe even see them, crowning Lance and glittering all around his beaming smile. Everything was so good, Keith snatched the drink out of his hands and took a cheerful swig. 

 

After the sun, the regret. 

 

It’s like his throat just got melted by acid and immediately sprung back only to be burned again. When the liquid reached his stomach, Keith knew his pH was going to get so acid he would dissolve from the inside out. 

 

And instantly, it got better. 

 

“Take another one, I want this glass empty by the time I’ve changed myself.” Lance left the bed and clutched a random robe. “No looky.” 

 

It got really better. 

 

Who-oh-ohh… Whohoo. 

 

Keith gulped another time. Gross, then horrible, then terrible, then… whoahahah ? 

 

“Lance.” 

 

“Mh-mh?” 

 

“Laaaaance.” Another mouthful. 

 

And another. 

 

And. And ? 

 

“Lance. Lance, Lance, Lance.” 

 

Lance -oh, well- was shirtless in the bathroom and groaned so loud Keith sushed. 

 

“ _ What _ ?” 

 

“Com’ere.” 

 

A sigh, a brushing sound and Lance in a robe flopped on the mattress next to Keith, who was just about to drink from the bottle. Lance pulled it away gently. 

Not doing that either. 

 

“So, how was it ?”

 

“Once you get used to the feeling of combusting, it’s kind of…” Keith wibbled his head and rolled his eyes. “Hun-hun, you know?”

 

Lance snorted and chugged from the bottle. “Yeah, I see.” It was long since the alcohol stopped burning, but he assumed Keith has never been much of a party animal. 

This was, at most, very strong vodka. 

 

In fact Lance had resolved the alcohol was not even alcohol in the first place, but rather some random juice. The years, however, even frozen in space, had let it mature and the atoms of glucose slowly turned into ethanol, thus producing what’s commonly called some dank juice.

 

By his side, Keith chirped incomprehensible mess. Lance took out another swig and pinched his knee. He steadily refused to think about anything correlated to Keith’s lips, or his hair, or anything they did between his return and prior this moment. 

 

“My turn, right ?” Keith asked.

 

“Yup.”

 

Keith bounced on his knees. 

 

“So…?” Lance pursued. 

 

“Hah, yeah.” Keith nodded. “Truth or dare ?” 

 

“Truth.” 

 

“Did you and Hunk ever kissed ?” 

 

“Yes.” 

 

This was tit for tat chatting. The alcohol had destroyed any of Keith’s filters by the second he finished his glass, and Lance felt himself slowly rolling down the hill. By any second, either of them could drift and both loved the thrill of the idea. 

 

“How ?!” Keith jumped on the bed. 

 

“Not your turn. Truth or dare ?” Lance bounced back. 

 

“Truth !”

 

“Did you ever kissed Shiro ?” 

 

“What ? No !” 

 

Lance wiggled his eyebrows. “Never thought of it ? He’s hot. Like, a hot teacher.”

 

“Lance ?” Keith peered at Lance through lidded eyes and even the glassy overlook could not hide the underlying threat. 

 

“Okay, okay, I get it. Older brother forever.”

 

“Geez.” 

 

Another gulp. God, this was hilarious. Keith tried to pry the bottle away from Lance but only fell on all four. Lance giggled.

 

“Kneel for your king.” 

 

“Shut up !” Keith laughed too and settled. “Truth or dare ?”

 

“Dare.” 

 

“SERIOUSLY ?” Keith tried to slap Lance’s hand but he caught his fist before. Keith had such tiny hands sometimes ! Well, all the time, but now Lance felt them tinier. He complied. 

 

“Okay, truth. It was a spin-the-bottle game, the first secret party of our dorms community. Very pure to be honest.” Lance smiled at the memory. “I think I touched more of his nose than his mouth.” 

 

“You bup- bumped. Bumped into each other’s faces.” 

 

“Yeah !” 

 

“Dumb.” Keith tilted his head. Lance pressed the bottle against his forehead, making him swing backwards. Poor thing was disoriented.

 

“You really can’t take it, can you ?”

 

“Asian, plus not much of a drinking lover. So yeah, no.” 

 

Lance chewed thoughtfully on his tongue. “Funny.” 

 

“Why so ?” 

 

Keith rested on his elbows to cross their gazes. 

 

“Guess you’ll need to ask.” Lance evaded the question. 

 

Keith groaned and let his skull hit back the mattress. “Not fair.” He pointed upward to no particular direction. Lance nudged his shin. 

 

“That’s the game.” 

 

He nudged more and Keith bumped back, until both of them were kicking the other in a mess of legs and feet and robes. Keith won -cheated, Lance would say, but heh- because of luck and the fact that Lance held the bottle, thus not allowing himself to hit full force. Also raw strength was coursing in his veins. That helps.

 

“I had a disadvantage though.” Keith pointed out. “I’m drunk.”

 

“You’re not drunk. You’re dizzy at most.”

 

Keith steadied his mind. Oh. Yeah. Dizzy at most. But still, some edges looked funny. Blurry funny. 

 

“Truth or dare ?” 

 

“Mhh… Dare.” 

 

Lance expected truth and got disappointed. He had no idea. 

 

“Remove. Your. Shirt.”

 

“That’s it ? You’ve seen me shirtless countless time tonight ? And before ?” Keith raised his brows but went for the hem of his shirt anyways. 

 

“Time’s different.” 

 

“No ?”

 

Lance wobbled his head. The bottle followed the movement and they clearly heard the juice flick flack inside. 

 

“You got to admit.” Lance linked their chest with his finger. “This whole. Connection.” Lance waited for Keith to pop out of his robe. “This is new.” 

 

“I don’t. We’ve always been like this.” 

 

“Nah. No, we used to get under each other's skin all the time. We picked up fights all the time for silly stuff.” 

 

“We still do.” 

 

Lance dismissed. “Not the same.”

 

“Same though.”

 

“You never quit, do you ?”

 

Keith smirked. “You know it.” 

 

Lance could see the tipsy flush spread over his cheeks and his chest. Keith was beyond everything ever. Woaha. Okay, Lance was tipsy too. 

Keith rested his back on the wall, his elbows on his knees. He kept closing and unclosing a hand, asking silently for the bottle. Lance dropped it. Whatever, at this point, little less, little more… 

 

“Dare ? Or truth ?”

 

Lance smirked. His private life had only taken so much ; time to stop. 

 

“I pick dare.”

 

“I dare you to answer the following question : Why do you find it funny that I can take alcohol ?”

 

Lance bit his lower lip. Keith wore his best smile, eyelids slightly closed as the back of his head thumped against the wall. Looking at Lance from under, his throat exposed, he looked smug and innocent at the same time. 

 

_ How could he do that ?  _

 

Lance threw the kazoo at him. He missed on purpose.

 

“Sneaky bastard.”

 

“Just do it !”

 

“Well. I… I guess it has to do with the look ?” 

 

“My look says I’m a punk?” Keith asked. 

 

Lance set back upright. He took away the bottle from Keith and made the gulp last. Suspense was unbearable. 

 

“I don’t know. It’s more of a vibe. You radiate energy. Even more now, but even before, at the Garrison. Everywhere, on the whiteboards, the rankings, the copies, the papers, the alleys. Your face, your name. Everywhere. People used to say you where the next GGG.”

 

“GGG?” Keith interrupted. He had a hard time swallowing the butterflies. They fluttered everywhere in his stomach and bumped in his throat. 

 

“Galaxy Garrison Golden. Top of the cream.” 

 

“Oh.” Keith dwelled on that. “But I left ?”

 

“You left. A shock for everyone.” 

 

“Not everyone.” Keith pointed out. 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“Well, it’s been a chance for you, wasn’t it ?” 

 

Lance wrinkled his nose. “Nah, even me. I hate to admit it but… It was good looking at you. From faraway.” 

 

“You sound like one of these girls, you know the ones.” 

 

“I dated those girls, you know ? Since you wouldn’t take it on your time, I had to help you.” 

 

“Oh, come on.” Keith chuckled. Still, it spiked somewhere in his lungs. Lance dated girls. “They were not after me.” 

 

“Heck yeah they were. Half the school was. Maybe not Pidge, though. Kid’s too absorbed by all this tech stuff and finding Matt and shit.”

 

“But… Then how ?” 

 

Lance blinked at Keith. 

 

“How  _ what  _ ?”

 

“How did you dated them ? How come no one talked to me ? How was I seen as this punk kid yet the most wanted one ? That doesn’t make any sense !” Keith almost screamed in the end. His sensitive ears called him back. You’re on thin ice, don’t blow it. 

 

“That’s three questions.”

 

“Lance !”

 

Lance laughed. Something crystalline yet raspy. Probably a secondary effect of drinking half a bottle of altean booze. 

 

“Well, there’s this thing called flirting and those stuff called parties. Usually with one or two I can get away.” 

 

Keith nodded. Sure. Flirting was totally his thing and he went to at least a thousand parties, how could he forget ? 

 

“But. Counterpoint. I don’t think anyone can do this.” 

 

Lance waved his shoulders. “Heeeh, take some Lancey Lance charm !” 

 

Keith deadpanned. 

 

“I’m still pretty. You might be celebrity crush kind, but people look for real people. I’m… atteignable.” Lance pulled at his collar. 

 

Keith scoffed. “You ? Come on.” 

 

This was slowly turning into a compliment battle. Lance felt the blush rushing to his cheeks. That blush. The blush that murmured ‘he’s so cute, kiss him again’ into the shell of his ear. Lance ignored it and hit the bottle. 

 

“Anyways. I was... this guy. You were… You.” 

 

“That helps.” 

 

Lance developed “Mysterious edgy Keith. You’re that boy who wore his combat boots and all black to random classes and never talked to anyone.”

 

“Untrue. I’m not edgy, or whatever.”  

 

“Keith, you really need to understand that glaring at people with those eyes, all the while being the top first of the elite, never talking much and clearly being a lone wolf, well… That doesn’t help getting you out of the anime character trope.” 

 

“I’m not a lone wolf. People don’t talk to me. That’s different.”

 

“Shiro talked to you, though.” 

 

“Tutoring.”

 

“Then friendship.” 

 

Keith admitted Lance was right. 

 

“I guess. But it… I mean, what if I did something wrong ? What if I say something mean and they hate me ?”

 

“Keith, do you really think our bond is based on how nice you are ?”

 

Point for Lance. 

 

“I guess not, but… I… It’s scary, Lance. It’s terrifying. There’s nothing I can do and I fear to screw up everything.”

 

Lance reached for Keith’s arm and stroked it gently. 

 

“It doesn’t have to be. Look at us, look at Pidge. Take Hunk. They’re your friends. Yes, you said mean things to them, remember when you screamed at Pidge for trying to leave ? Well. She’s still there.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“We’re not abandoning you. You’re you, and we know that. That’s kinda, like, the whole point of liking Keith.” 

 

The phrase startled him. 

 

“You like me ?” Keith had asked without thinking. Words faster than brain. 

 

Lance sank his teeth into his lip. When the pain grounded him, he relaxed.

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“Cool.” 

 

_ Like, like ‘like’, or like… More ?  _

 

Keith couldn’t ask that. Not brave enough, not dumb enough, whatever, but he could not say it. 

 

“About the punk kid’s reputation though…” Lance pursued. His voice quivered at the highest notes. Surely he wanted to move on. “I think it’s more projection than anything. The bike, the flowing air, the ninja tricks. You’re  _ badass _ . I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d been seen drinking bottles with a gang in town.” 

 

Keith tilted his head from left to right.

 

“Oh my god, you have.”

 

“Just with a few people, not a gang, though. You forget I would need to socialize to do that.”

 

“Yeah, screw that. But, like... I could imagine you smoking cigarettes at the back of a club, though. Under red neons, and stuff.” Lance lowered his gaze. “The jacket and the black outfit helps.”

 

“Badass.”

 

“Sure is.”

 

“I tried smoking once.”

 

“And ?”

 

Keith wrinkled his nose. “Couldn’t run for an hour and it smelled worse than ever. I quit two days later.”

 

“How do you even find cigarettes in your desert ?” 

 

“Black market has its upsides.”

 

“You went to a  _ black market  _ ? The one of the north or…” 

 

“South one. They only sell organs at the north one.”

 

“How do you even know that…” Lance whispered.Keith opened his mouth, but he beat him at it. “Wait, no, nevermind, don’t wanna know.” 

 

Lance circled his fingers on the bed sheets. Keith was not just mysterious, he was draped in a silky fabric weaved of enigmas and secrets. And yet, he was an open book. Lance just needed reading glasses sometimes.

 

“Tell me how it was.”

 

“Oh well.” 

 

_ The Garrison building shrunk on the horizon, blurred behind dust clouds. The roar of the machine buzzed around, its humming warmth solidly fitting between Keith’s thighs. His feet were just a meter above the ground, and yet, he felt like towering over the world.  _

 

Keith felt the sand back on his hand. The hot wind brushed his hair, or maybe it was just Lance’s breath. 

 

“It’s just at the limits of the city. I used to go once or twice a week. Sometimes at night, but... “ Lance watched Keith raise his shoulders sheepishly, a smile blending his expression. “There’s just something about driving under the sun.”

 

_ Black hair, black shirt, black gloves. Red jacket, red boots, red bike. Red neon, black smoke. And maybe a tall silhouette exiting the club behind him, sweet hands and loud mouth.  _

 

_ Wishful thinking.  _

 

“It’s dusty. And loud. But I made a few friends.” Keith nodded to himself, and somehow, Lance noticed when he realised he was sharing something special, and decided to stop.

 

“Wanna keep playing ?” 

 

“Can’t we just… Talk ?”

 

Keith left the wall to lay down on the bed, his head next to Lance’s belly. The boy stroked his hair out of the blue. Something in the air, the proximity, in the blood. The alcohol was in the blood. 

 

He laced a finger over the roots, and scraped lightly. Keith purred. The sound rolled down his throat. Lance soothed up. None of them commented. 

 

“Sure.” 

 

Lance kept his hand busy in Keith’s hair. 

 

“Tell me more about your market.” 

 

“Well… It was tough.” 

 

“And that’s it ?” 

 

“You’ll have to be more specific.” 

 

Lance refrained the urge to pull onto Keith’s hair to make him look up. He rubbed at a bump instead. 

 

“You got fur here too…” 

 

“I do?”

 

“Kinda…” A purr. “Okay, tell me about one of the best times there.” 

 

Keith closed his eyes. He could hear Lance’s heart. The wave of earlier had dried down, and they were floating on a turquoise lagoon. 

 

“There’s this time I won three hundred dollars, by punching a guy. That was cool.” 

 

Keith had picked this precise memory for two reasons. First, because he remembered it in every single detail, from the smell of the dirty room to the intoxicating feeling of being on the ring. 

Secondly, because Lance thought he was a badass punk and Keith aimed to please. 

 

He felt something ripple through Lance’s vibes, troubling the surface of the emotions dripping over Keith. Somehow this new sensations had a cool side. Next second he opened his eyes and Lance was whispering furiously above him, upside down over his head. 

 

“Dude, you got to tell me how, right now!” 

 

Keith bit his lip.

Outside, the moon was purple. They still had two hours before landing, everything was fine, Keith thought. 

 

Wishful thinking. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *”Se jeta à l’eau” means “to throw himself in the water” or, more metaphorically, to just to it, headfirst. There was no way to translate the pun so here it is. /// Chavirer : Fall over at sea, specifically about boats. Capsized is specific to boats too in french so here is another missed pun. I’m really salty about those missed puns. /// Boire la tasse : Swallow water but, not on purpose. Accidentally drinking seawater. 
> 
> Hoyaaa, this one took a while ! I hope you'll enjoy it, tell me if you see any typos or spot something odd! Have fun!


	11. Keep your feet on the ground - or - Keith and Lance get the further away from each other they've always been.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's not ideal, but Keith is shoved into a pod. Lance and Shiro have a discussion about feelings, boys and Lance understands some people can be your heroes in more than one way.   
> Aka   
> Shiro is gay, that's awesome, Lance is getting there and do not worry no one will die (maybe) (ahah no. not on my watch)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW okay, i'm going to actually try to finish this !! :D Sorry for the long wait ! I'm going to finish this one, even if it kills me !! ahah, i hope you won't get too mad at me x)
> 
> I am actually preparing another biiiigg huuuuuge fic i hope you'll like, but i'll give more info soon !!!

“And the bets, from a total of a hundred versus, well, three, earned me a total of three hundred bucks.” Keith said, finishing his story. 

 

He had to admit, his gap year was a pretty action packed one, and this wasn’t the worst he’d ever done. But Lance did not have to know. 

 

“That’s. Wild…” Lance hushed quietly. His eyes were lost somewhere. 

 

Keith shrugged.  “I’m not sure. I was so high on adrenaline, it doesn’t count.” 

 

He looked back at Lance for approval. He’s only ever told this story to one person before, and she was much less enthusiastic about it than Lance was. 

Maybe because he told her to explain his three broken ribs, but that’s another story ! 

 

Lance wiggled on the bed, pushing over his elbows to straighten up the best he could. Keith moved with him. The contact of their skin together, once again, made him shiver. That was nice. 

 

Lance wasn’t dropping the subject, though. 

 

“Of course it counts. You literally atomized this guy in an underground boxing club. It fucking counts.” Lance said. His nose suddenly bumped with Keith’s. “Not gonna lie, that’s… Kinda…”

 

Lance lost his words. 

 

“Hot ?” Keith completed, too smug to watch his mouth. Something stinged in his mind, and numbed it anyways. His brain wasn’t that much in control since the beginning of all of this… Whatever that was. 

 

Lance’s eyes went wide and Keith watched his face go from a nice pink to a bright red. If the neons were to suddenly shut down, Lance would literally lit the place up. 

 

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” Lance managed to mumble. 

 

Keith snorted. 

 

“That’s just a question of speed. I could teach you.” 

 

Lance blinked. 

 

The perspective of gaining some hand to hand combat abilities was nice. The perspective of doing it with  _ Keith  _ as a teacher was even better. 

 

“I would… Love that.” 

 

“Nice.” Keith huffed. “Then meet me at the deck whenever you’ll feel ready.” 

 

“Yeah, as if you weren’t the one basically dying in my arms.” Lance grinned. 

 

Keith was that close to sticking out his tongue, but he refrained from doing so at the last second. Mostly because, if he did stuck it out, it would reach Lance’s nose, and he wasn’t so sure about the boy’s reaction upon being licked out of nowhere. And Keith wasn’t a dog !

 

Right now, curled up like this, bathing in Lance’s warmth and admittedly purring, he felt more like a cat. If his nails and somehow… Physical appearance where to weight in, he would pass for one for sure. He was pretty sure he was growing ears too. 

 

That’s how he knew he was getting delirious. Was he ? 

 

He palmed the wall. They’ve been talking for so long, he had lost any notion of time passing, and he was not sure of how much longer was left before the landing. Lance was there, nodding to himself in the dark. 

 

Keith felt the wall closer to his forehead than anticipated. He sighed. 

 

“Hey, you okay there ?” 

 

He may have unconsciously caressed his throat. The sand was still there, coaxing his lungs. It felt like his skin was burning inside out. Not like a forest fire, no, more like a slow but certain roast.

So hot, yet so cold. He could feel the metal under his fingers and he had troubles distinguishing which was colder. A chill, tense, numb material or the walls? Who’s hand is that ? 

 

“Keith ?” Lance’s hand. It was Lance’s hand on his shoulder. 

 

It was like the sensations were slowly coating themselves. The only thing he could hold onto was Lance’ presence. Unmoving waves of warm. What is the north ? 

 

“Keith ? Keith please. Keith !” 

 

The ship trembled. The were probably passing by the asteroids belt around the planet, now. Getting closer and closer to it. 

 

Why are they heading here anyways. What. Is that Lance ? Was he always so. Oh. There’s sand in his insides. Something. Blood. Is Lance smelling it too ? It smells like blood but it’s not his blood. Someone is dying. 

 

“Keith, if you’re fucking with me this isn’t funny.” 

 

His arm got squeezed. Hands on his shoulders. Smells iode and blood. Ocean. Sharks. His mind was associating things on her own. A thread, circling around. It’s getting spinny in there. 

 

Spin, spin, spin. 

 

Something is repeating there. A word. The voice is a bell calling something. He needs to remember what it is. Is it ? 

 

“KEITH !” 

 

Woah there. Too much noise. A name. Ears ringing. Is that a bridge ? 

 

“KE-”

 

He could jump. 

 

It’s dark under there. 

 

 - - - 

 

“Fuck ! Keith !”

 

Lance shook his hands. Knuckles white, arms tensed over, he rattled Keith like a doll, but the boy didn’t move. His chest was purple now. Entirely. 

 

Fuck. 

 

Lance jolted out of the bed and slammed the lights on. Flooding the room, the blue-ish light made everything paler, sicker. Keith was still laying on the bed, but now it looked like they were in a deserted hospital. 

 

He was not moving. Even his torso looked rigid, like he he wasn’t breathing. 

 

Fuck. 

 

Lance stayed frozen for a second too. His mind felt like a thin, glowing green line and an emergency alarm beeping alone. And then the circuits reconnected and he buzzed. 

 

Bathroom. Water. Waking Keith up. 

Simple orders, simple steps, simple commands for his body to follow. There was no time to loose and Lance worked on autopilot. 

 

Adrenaline had replaced his blood by now, because he lifted Keith off the bed without a single huff, without a pause, and he shoved them under icy water without thinking twice. Without thinking once, in fact. 

 

There wasn’t much thinking. Reacting, moving. 

 

The liquid threatened to tear his shoulders apart while it crashed down from frozen heavens, but when it hit Keith’s face, nothing moved. 

 

Lance slapped the doll in his arms. 

 

Nothing, excepted that Keith’s jaw dropped, his mouth opening slightly. He was so pale, the violet stains on his skin looks black, the contrast so vivid it was almost nauseating. He was not waking up, and water spilled down in his mouth too and Lance felt like they would drown if he didn’t react. 

 

Fuck. 

 

Lance didn’t turn off the faucet and left a trail behind him when he escaped the room with Keith in his arms. There was an urgency. An emergency. Something in the way Keith didn’t blink, didn’t move, didn’t  _ anything _ . 

 

Lance ran and it felt like he was carrying an empty shell. 

 

He ran down the corridors at a speed he didn’t knew himself capable of. There was wings on his back but they were rotting. Something in his stomach kept telling him was his fault and he should have… 

 

There’s nothing. No barriers. The castle is too big, too empty. He was running but he was lost. It had never happened before. 

 

Where are they ? 

 

Fuck. Fuck. 

 

Lance huffed and suddenly the weight was crushing him. Keith in his arms, the responsibility on his shoulders. 

 

If something really bad happened now, it was on  _ him _ . Can’t let that happen. The adrenaline was dying in his veins. It’s like he had been unplugged from the support. Alone in the wild. 

His brain was still functioning at speedlight velocity. Lance estimated at three the number of minutes left he had to run and carry Keith while maintaining a reasonable pace. Two if he sprinted. 

 

Fuck. 

 

It’s too little, too short. 

 

And he’s fucking lost ? HOW ! 

 

Nonetheless, he persisted and picked back up the tracks, his heels hitting repeatingly the ground in a mind-numbing metallic sound. Klank, klank, klank ; run boy, run. 

It’s a maze. 

 

Lance felt something in his knee, stinging. Dismissed, go away. 

 

He kept on pursuing the faint lights around, cold sweat pearling on his shoulders. There was something cryptic about chasing the unknown. He kept going.

His body, his heart, everything was on fire but he pushed it at the back of his mind. 

 

He couldn’t hear himself think over the sound blood pulsing. 

 

There was a battle between his raging fire inside and the frozen stillness outside. And suddenly he saw it. 

A door open. He nearly missed it, oozing light in a perpendicular corridor, but it caught his eyes. 

 

And Lance turned back. Salvation. 

The three minutes are down, his body gave up.

 

It started at the bottom, his feet hurting and somehow still wet. And then the ankles gave up and Lance slipped.

It’s a miracle it happened only then, but it still happened.He tripped, and fell over. His head hit the ground full force, his arms caught up under Keith. Maybe he licked the floor in the process because a metallic tastes flooded his mouth. 

 

Nevermind, he bit his tongue that hard. 

 

He left Keith there and stumbled to the door. 

 

“HELP !” Lance screamed. It echoed in the room.

 

Time started moving again. In front of him, so many stars he could never count them and further behind the glass of the window bay, a rocky mass, slowly taking up more and more space. The planet. 

 

He’d reached the control room.  _ How can it be there _ ? He was supposed to be lost ! How did he came back to the main area without realizing it ?! 

 

_ Shoot first, ask question later, Lance.  _

 

The crack in his voice lost itself in the air. Shiro was on him before he could scream again. Allura jumped out of her podium. Pidge is missing, but Hunk came running. 

 

“What- Lance, calm down, what-” Shiro stutters. His hands wander over Lance’s face, his wet hair, the pearls of blood at the corner of his mouth. 

 

“IT’S KEITH !” 

 

Shiro’s hand, brushing over Lance’s shoulders, froze. A white figure flashed by the corner of his eyes. Allura. 

 

“He’s not breathing ! Coran ! Ready a cryopod, I’m coming !” Allura commanded through the intercom. There was a sound, and she was gone, Keith in her arms. 

 

Lance felt his balance shiver. There were hands on his forehead, around his waist.

 

_ I’m going to be sick.  _

Someone holds him. Steady arms. Hunk ? Shiro. Hunk is gone, probably with Allura. 

 

There’s a rumble. 

 

It’s a voice. 

 

“Lance. Lance, can you talk to me ?”

 

Shiro. He brushed hair out of Lance’s eyes, crouched on his knees in front of his seat. 

 

“You need to tell me what hap- Lance.” 

 

Shiro passed a thumb over his chin. Lance didn’t move. The adrenaline ecstasy gone,he knew he’d overdone himself.

It was like he’d been drained out. It was probably the case. 

 

Shiro wiped his thumb, frowning. He turned Lance’s head, holding the jaw, examining the littlest details. He snapped his fingers, next to his ear, moved a hand in front of his eyes. 

 

“Lance, when is the last time you’ve eaten ? Did you sleep well ?” Shiro gently rubbed his wrists. “Hey, kiddo, I need to know what’s going on, okay ? Stay strong. We’ve done this before, stay with me.” 

 

Lance glanced at Shiro. Last time the guy took care of him, they nearly lost everything. Friends, lions, the war.

 

“I guess nothing changes, heh ?” His voice was croaky, breaking at the edges. 

 

Lance saw it. The tension. It left the man’s shoulders as soon as he spoke again. 

 

“I fucked up, Shiro.” Lance breathed in. “I messed up.”

 

“Let me be the judge of that. Tell me.” Shiro stood up, stepped back, folded his arms. Lance nodded. 

 

And he explained. In the wrong order, it started by the pool. He went back to the bathroom, two eternities ago. He didn’t mention the bottle. Oh, whatever, he tells Shiro anyways. How Keith forgot to walk and progressively stained his skin in dark purple. How he lied. How he nearly broke his ankle running and how scared he feels. 

 

It felt like the hours were a never-ending thread of events. Shiro waited, he didn’t say anything. 

 

When he finally shut up, Lance noticed the trails of tears on his cheeks, the blood on his lips. He did bite his tongue back there. 

 

“Is that all ?” Shiro moved to the command panel. 

 

Lance nodded again, too tired to talk. 

 

Shiro clicked the intercom. “Allura ?” 

 

“Shiro ?! Any updates !? The situation is quite frankly wibbly wobbly here !” Coran answered.  

 

“Wibbly… What’s going on ?” 

 

“Well…” There was a click and the pods rooms passed on screen. Lance could see Coran, disheveled, erratically turning and levelling commands on five different screens. In the background, blurry, Allura, and as expected, Hunk. 

 

They were shoving something in a pod. No. They were trying to. 

 

“There’s a bit of… resisting, coming from Keith.” Coran turned around. A screech pierced the castle. 

 

Lance’s blood froze in his veins. His mouth reacted before his brain, but it was his heart screaming. 

 

“DON’T HURT HIM !” 

 

“We’re not hurting him, Lance ! It’s for his own good, you know it.” Coran opened a window on the screen. “Princess, on your command ! Pod’s ready to lock !” 

 

Allura grumbled in the background. She was pushing Keith with her full force, while he gripped the outsides of the capsule to maintain himself out of it. The claws marked the metal from where he first jabbed them. 

 

“HUNK ! NOW !” 

 

With a roar, Hunk joined Allura, slamming himself on the entrance. 

 

Keith’s arms gave up. A loud “BANG” resonated and there was sparkles where the claws used to be. Keith arched against the metal. 

 

“CORAN !”

 

“HAYYAA!” Coran slammed his fist on another one of the dozen of buttons on the board. 

And the pod locked up. 

 

“Sleep now, my boy.” Coran muttered. He pressed a triangle onscreen, and a gaz started filling up the pod. 

 

Lance watched in horror. His mind kept repeating something about the greater good, and Keith’s well-being, but he couldn’t hear it over his heart screaming. His eyes were glued to the film displayed by the comms. 

 

Keith’s hands hit the glass with so much energy Hunk recoiled. Allura didn’t. She stepped closer and watched as the fists started to lose strength. Finally, Keith’s eyes rolled back into his skull. 

His form slumped back.

 

“He’s asleep. Start running a diagnostic.” Allura ordered. 

 

On Pidge’s screen, a scan was running up and down, numbers and percentages rising and decreasing. 

 

“He’s stable !” 

 

Lance breathed again. His palms bled from little half circle of red in the flesh. Nail cuts. 

 

On his right Shiro crushed his shoulder between his hand. Lance glared at him. His eyes were two grey pools now, worry washing over his mouth and twisting his skin in a dark frown. If Lance had respect for Shiro, he’d never thought he would fear him. 

 

Right now, seeing his teeth grip his lip like that, Lance was scared. For the first time, both of them had decided to let a little more loose than usual, and Lance at the feeling that Keith maybe was not the only one to open up tonight. 

 

Heck, maybe this black and red paladin weird trio was actually going to get better and, somehow, closer, after that. 

 

If there was to be an after. 

 

“How long before we know what’s going on ?” Shiro said. 

 

His voice was so cold Lance felt like he’d jumped under the shower again. 

 

Hunk and Pidge answered something, each one in a different room. Allura spoke about a mission. Coran added something, his chirpy tone rubbing Lance the wrong way. 

He wasn’t listening anyways. 

 

Shiro shook Lance’s shoulder again. He really needed to stop, it was his shooting shoulder. If the man crushed it, Lance was doomed. 

 

“Let’s get moving. We’re going down there and coming back as fast as possible.” 

 

“But I… I don’t want to go ! What if he… ?”

 

He didn’t finish his sentence. Shiro breathed in, eyes closed. 

 

“Lance, listen. I…” 

 

They shared a look. Both of them, for different reasons, would rather jump into the void than go to that random planet, land and keep going as if everything was fine. 

But they share this sense of duty, too. 

 

Lance felt guilt drip down his face. The universe still needed them, despite everything, and his own wishes would have to get a ticket. He had more important things to do.  

 

“Shiro, let’s just… Let’s go, alright ?”

 

The pressure on his shoulder disappeared, and Shiro rubbed his wrist. Lance was still in his jeans, almost naked in the control room, and dripping everywhere. 

What a mess. 

 

The guy brushed it over, turning to the stars outside.  

 

“Thanks. We’ll take Red.” 

 

Lance stood up from his armchair and made a step, and another, and began to run to his door across the corridors, now back to their familiar places. Whatever he needed to do, he needed to do it fast. If he let his mind think, he wasn’t too sure he would like what he’d find. 

 

\---

 

Red landed on Hakentok with a great sound of clanking and crushing, but by the second the lion stops moving and Lance stepped down, everything went silent. 

 

“There’s not a soul around.” He pointed out. Yeah, thanks for commenting. 

 

But Lance couldn’t really stand that oppressing silence, and as they started walking, he began to chatter randomly. 

He didn’t even recall what he said. His mouth moved alone, while he fidgeted with his bayard, switching forms alternatively. He avoided his sword on purpose. 

 

The planet was as boring as possible, so he wasn’t paying much attention to it. Like a great desert of ruins, military installations and canyons of greyish stones. Lance turned his attention to the constellations above his head. 

 

“Let’s name a few.” He decided. 

 

Surprisingly, Shiro stopped to get a proper look at the sky. Lance nearly crashed in his back, avoiding him in a twirling jump. Absorbed, Shiro didn’t even notice. He raised his mechanic arm, and Lance followed the finger he pointed at a bright mass of stars on their right. 

 

“I’ll call this one the Frog.” Shiro said. 

 

Lance snorted, the sound echoing in his helmet. “The  _ Frog ? _ Seriously ?” 

 

Shiro shrugged. “Why not ?” 

 

“Okay, okay, that’s fair. You name it. My turn now. See this one ?” Lance pointed at a vague triangle. Honestly, it just looked like random dots. “It’s the Cow. Kalteneconstellation.” 

 

“The Milky Way is right after.” Shiro dropped in a deadpan tone. A grin creeped up his face. 

 

That smartass was proud of himself ! 

 

Lance smirked. “Yeah !” A giggle shook his body. “I guess we could say that.” 

 

The bright dots looked different that from inside the castle. With Keith, at the pool, they felt so distant yet so close. On the ground, they seemed unreachable, and yet, Shiro and Lance were the ones to know you could always reach for the stars. 

 

Up there, in the sky, the Castle drifted by. 

 

“I hope everything’s fine up there.” 

 

“Yeah. Me too.” 

 

A gentle silence settled, full of untold words. Lance was only gathering his courage. 

The giant ship passed, and Shiro nodded to Lance. Let’s go. 

 

“We’re really small, aren’t we ?” Lance asked, but that was a rhetorical question. 

 

Shiro hummed. 

 

They jumped over wreckages. Passed by old, deserted zones with nothing but dust floating around. The atmosphere, although thin, held on particles and left them hanging in the air, like frozen in time. 

 

Lance filled in a couple of sample tubes for Pidge. 

 

Finally, Shiro stopped in front of what could have been gates. Now, the metal was all torn off, completely destroyed. 

 

“Wow. Guess they really left in a hurry.” 

 

The entire military camp was an abandoned base. Lance could recognize the Galra style of the equipment, but without the glowing neons and the passing soldiers, the effect was… weird. Like, passing by your old school when it’s closed during summer weird. 

 

“Where should we go ?” Lance asked. 

 

“Allura and Pidge made up a map, but basically, we’re looking for the central command.” Shiro answered, and he activated an hologram on his arm. 

 

They just had to follow little dots in a maze of white lines representing the walls. 

All in all, the mission was quiet. Easy, almost. 

 

Lance blew a door open on the side of the building, and they jetpacked inside. Pidge, bless the kid, has a terrifying accuracy, and they moved without a problem inside the base. Most of the doors were either ripped open or left hanging, and didn’t resist any of Shiro’s kicks. 

 

Navigating inside was a piece of cake. 

 

When they reached the highest bridge, lights flooded in. Lance scanned the area. 

 

“It’s clear.” Useless precaution, he knew it, but he was feeling guilty and prefered overdoing it now. 

 

That would not cover up for anything, but it eased his mind. Or it occupied his thoughts. Either way, he needed it.  

 

“The moon is rising.” Shiro stated. He was just as bad as Lance with small talk in this kind of situation. There was no need for it, and… They somehow shared  _ something.  _ Something that glossed over their respective habits, over the usual masks. 

 

“The one with the weird eight thingie trajectory ?” Lance asked while he pushed a chair away. He was looking for a computer or anything remotely technologic Shiro could connect to. 

The data would flow in and they would just need to get back to the Castle. Easy, peasy. 

 

“Probably.” Shiro glanced over his shoulder and turned away.

 

Lance nodded. Okay, okay. Not the moment. 

 

The scout with piercing eyes and the fighter with magic hands. It was a small team, but they sufficed to the mission. In combat, in looting, in anything. In terms of abilities, Lance covered what Shiro lacked, even if it wasn’t much. 

 

Allura maybe would have been more suited for it, but she declined the offer. None of them wanted to force her to go and pass through ruins for a day just to look for intel. She was much more needed in the castle, anyways. 

 

Keith was supposed to be the third one, for backup, just in case. No one really wanted to fill his place, and Lance thanks his friends for that. 

 

When Shiro embarked behind him in Red, Lance felt both like a replacement and like a special person. Weird. But Shiro was trying his best to cover up for the miscommunication and the left-unsaid, and Lance was decided to keep up the effort. 

 

After all, he was kind of his right arm’s right arm. Righty right arm… Riiigghhtt aarrmm… 

 

_ Okay, focus Lance.  _

 

The desk was empty. No signs of anything he could turn on, despite looking very good. He moved to search the corner of the room. 

 

“So… You and Keith ?” Lance heard himself ask. His tone was more hesitant than he wished for it to be.

 

“Yeah. Me and Keith.” Shiro parroted. “Little bro, big bro. Space dad, is that it ?” 

 

Lance could feel the tentative of humor in the man’s voice.

 

“Cool. Because, you know… I didn’t want to… Overstep something ?” Lance mumbled. Good thing they communicated through their helmets, because he really did not wanted to speak up. 

 

He picked at a lock, doing his best to look away from Shiro’s general direction. The thing was already broken. Huge traces clawed through the metal. 

 

“I don’t think your bond with Keith would ever step over mine, in the way we’re not at all on the same path, Lance.” Shiro gently responded. Lance was pretty sure he heard him giggle but that could be the metal moving as well. 

 

“Yeah, of course.” Lance breathed out, his vision blurring from the steam on his visor. 

 

A silence tried to settle, but Shiro pushed it away and continued like Lance wasn’t having a mini heart attack in his corner, clutching at the grip of his bayard like it was the last thing he would ever do. 

 

“And… You and Keith, right ?” Shiro continued. 

 

Lance turned on his heels. If this was his destiny, he would face it. Even if he felt on fire and his throat was all dry. 

 

Shiro stoppe rummaging through a broken metallic box to stare back at Lance. They locked eyes together, across the room.  _ Wow _ , they really made progress in intimacy. But now Lance could not look at him without thinking about so much more than just his childhood hero. 

 

A mentor. A friend. A soldier too, and despite everything, a man of his own, with secrets and laughs and things Lance thought he would never see in Shiro. The man had nothing of the robot, save it for the arm. He was the leader of Voltron, and Lance’s model, and an overall great guy. 

 

And… Some kind of older brother of his maybe-boyfriend ?

 

“I don’t really know… What’s going on.” Lance admitted. His bayard kept changing forms. Lance pushed at the wall, holding himself up. 

 

Shiro giggled. “I got that. The first days are always a little…”

 

“Whack.” Lance finished for him. His head hit the metal gently. 

 

What a night. 

 

“Yeah, whack. But it gets better. It get so much, much better. You get used to it, you make it work.” Shiro pursued. The reflection of the moon on the metal glowed, bathing his face in purple and pink hues. Lance caught the shy, small smile spreading across the man’s face. “It’s home.” 

 

Lance clenched his fists tighter, nervosity climbing through his veins and tingling his spine. 

 

“Do you think…” 

 

Shiro raised a brow. 

 

“Nevermind.” Lance didn’t have the kind of courage it took to keep going on with that discussion.

 

_ I think.  _

 

He can’t be… Home. Because they’re lost in space, and he’s lost in his feelings, and there is so much, so much he can not do. He’s helpless and he can’t help Keith either, and for all he knows ? Nothing will get better. 

 

Home is a fixed, safe place. Lance was never fixed nor safe, and he wasn’t sure he could ever help someone feel like this around him. He needed to grow, and to get stronger, and better, and- 

 

“I’m pretty sure he feels the same.” Shiro dropped, cutting Lance’s train of thought short. He turned away, walking down the alley to have a look through the dusty windows of the base. “You’re both way more similar that you think. And not in the way you think, Lance.” 

 

Lance stepped down from his corner, passing by the table to reach for the lowest zone of the command room. He stopped at the threshold of the light of the moon, bright squares on the dusty floor. 

Shiro’s feet had left a trail over the dirt, steps walking up to the window bay. 

 

Lance looked up. A white square and stars. The Castle. And inside, Allura. His way-to-go crush. A wonderful, beautiful alien, that could square him up and toss him across a room, lead him through a war against a literal empire, and still ask for his help and his advice, because they shared that kind of intimacy that helped them grow better each day. 

 

Someone he trusted enough to exchange a lion with. Someone he would probably die for, or the other way around. 

 

Lance gulped. He wasn’t so sure about whether or not he was still talking about Allura or… 

 

The conversation had died. Both of its participants were now lost in thought. 

 

Lance crossed the threshold. He stepped in the light of the moon, and walked up to the glass, leaning on it a little. 

He didn’t feel like looking directly at Shiro, but he did glance at him, from the corner of his eyes. Kind of like he looked at the sun back on Earth. Quick glances, full of apprehension and wonder.

 

What was the last thing he said already ? Lance and Keith ?  _ Similar ?  _

 

“I don’t know.” Lance said. “It was cool and all, but… Maybe… I can’t help but fear it was just either the alcohol or whatever he caught that made him so weird, yet so…” 

 

“Intense ?” 

 

Lance’s eyebrows reached for the sky. “Yeah, I guess. Man yeah, that was pretty intense. I’ve… Can I make a confession ?” He felt his heart in his chest, thumping so hard it menaced to explode. 

 

“Go ahead.” Shiro said. He had been nothing but gentle and comprehensive, since Lance crashed in the central command room. He stood with that tranquil assurance. Maybe it was a facade. 

 

But maybe, after all, Shiro was just as confident in Lance than he seemed to be, and they really did shared something. 

 

_ Lance, this is it. This is you telling Shiro.  _

 

“I actually had never kissed a boy before.” Lance dropped. His heart fluttered up, relieved. His stomach sank to the deeps of the planet, reaching the core and bouncing back in Lance’s body. But he felt confident about this. 

 

“I mean, not in a way that  _ counted _ .” He continued, catching up the sentence right after the other. He stared at Shiro. In fact, Lance planted himself in front of the man, arms tensed on his side, bayard in hand. It was now a sword, but he had forgot about it. 

 

“But I liked it ! And…” Lance gargled, leaving the sentence unfinished. 

 

Confidence life span ? Two seconds. 

 

“And you like a boy.” 

 

“Yeah.” 

 

Hearing Shiro saying it was both scarier than Lance thought and the most reassuring thing ever. 

The purple hue of the light accented Shiro’s smile as he extended his hand to Lance in this familiar, unique way he had to do so. Just like the first time he did so, millenia ago, in a dusty cabin in the desert, after Lance had spent the night chasing Keith and wondering what the hell was going on. 

 

Things never really changed, did they ? 

 

Lance looked at this hand, palm up toward him. He fiddled with his bayard, passing it on his other hand, to properly shake back. He grabbed Shiro’s hand, a light frown and a half-smile completing his i-have-no-idea-what-is-going-on look. 

 

Shiro firmly held his hand, and shot the boy a smile that probably made the crowds melt, when he used to do it on national TV for the Guarison. A smile Lance had already seen, shiny and warm like sunshine, and strong and confident like steel. 

 

“Nice. Welcome to the club.” 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Constantly in editing ! I thank a lot my two editors ; Noragami19 and WritingBookworm ! They make everything easier and they both have an account here ; go check them out ! They're lovely !
> 
> You can find artworks and more Voltron on my tumblr : edelwary too ! 
> 
> So What's going on at nights in the Castle of Lions haha !  
> Hope you enjoyed ! (If you take the time to comment and, or leave kudos, it will be super appreciated and make my day !) Thank you so much !


End file.
